CID stops GFA employees from working

• Posted on June 11, 2018
• by Nana Kwesi Coomson
• Comment

Workers of the Ghana Football Association (GFA) who went to work Monday in hopes of carrying out their duties have no place to work.

Their offices have been locked and taken over by personnel of the Criminal and Investigative Department days after the government announced steps to dissolve the association.

About 20 of the workers have crammed under a shed within the Ministry of Business Development, Joy Sports’ Benedict Owusu announced. The FA offices were described as a “crime scene.”

Benedict Owusu has also spotted Kweku Ayiah, the leader of the five-member committee set up by the FA to run the affairs of the association escorting the CID personnel into the FA offices ostensibly to search the place.

The five-member committee including Kurt Okraku, and the General Secretary of the FA, Isaac Addo will draw a roadmap for a new face of the GFA after its former president, Kwesi Nyantakyi, was indicted in an undercover investigative piece by Anas Aremeyaw Anas.

Mr Nyantakyi was captured in a video packing bundles of dollars into a black polythene bag after he fell for bait by the ace investigative journalist.

Anas and his TigerEye PI group, acting on perception of corruption in the GFA, decided to test the integrity of the men, who make daily decisions on behalf of the association.

The results and evidence are mind-boggling. Over 70 referees were captured taking money with the promise of changing the outcome of football matches played on the field.

Personnel from the referees association, executive committee members of the GFA and members of the National Sports Authority all fell for the bait taking money ranging from ¢300-¢5,000.

Perhaps the biggest moment in the video, which has since been televised, was the interaction between Nyantakyi and the supposed investor who, unknown to Nyantakyi, was an undercover journalist.

He demanded $11 million from the “investor,” which he described as an “appearance fee” to be paid to Ghana’s president, vice president and other ministers.

In the video, he was given what appeared to be $65,000, but Nyantakyi has since debunked that claim saying it was $40,000 – payment for refund.

FIFA has since slapped a 90-day ban on Nyantakyi after TigerEye PI filed a complaint to the federation.

Shortly after the ban was announced, Nyantakyi announced his resignation after apologizing to Ghana’s president and other members of government whose names he used to demand the money.

He is also being investigated on charges of defrauding by false pretence.

Having already disposed of his vice, the FA is without any leadership, with the future of the association hanging in the balance, especially with government’s decision to dissolve the association.

Joy News’ Benedict Owusu says the five member committee constituted by the FA is expected to meet with government representatives later today to chart a new path towards a better football association.

They are also looking to avoid a possible Ghana ban by FIFA.

-Joy