The Ghana Football Association (GFA) has said persons who provide information on attempts to manipulate matches will be awarded GHc50,000 in order to help curb the menace.
The FA’s Executive Council unanimously pushed through this plan as part of measures to address match manipulation in the Ghana Premier League.
“The Executive Council unanimously agreed to reward any individual who volunteers to give match manipulation information to the Association a package of GHc50,000 leading to the combating of match manipulations and betting,” a statement from the GFA said.
“The reward package is in addition to other plans, mechanisms and investigations currently ongoing to protect the sanctity and integrity of the game.”
The Executive Council urged the FA’s judicial bodies to speedily rule on such cases to ensure that they are dealt with in good time.
“The Executive Council, at their meeting, noted that match manipulations and betting by people in football requires a multifaceted approach to deal with – hence the cautious, pragmatic, exhaustive and painstaking approach. While recognizing the fact that match manipulation cases across the world take a lot of time, the Council urged the GFA judicial bodies to dedicate more time and urgency to ensure that such cases are speedily adjudicated.”
Match manipulation has been a major problem for Ghanaian football over the years.
An exposé by investigative journalist, Anas Aremeyaw Anas in 2018 revealed widespread corruption across various levels of Ghana football.
Then GFA President, Kwesi Nyantakyi was forced to resign from his role and the football season was curtailed for over a year.
There have been investigations into a few alleged incidents of match manipulation in recent years.
The most high profile was a league match between Ashgold and Inter Allies, which ended 7-0 to the former, but earned infamy after an Allies defender scored two ridiculous own goals.
The FA said it was investigating the incident but is yet to announce a final decision.