Dissolving GFA is overkill – Ayariga

Government’s decision to dissolve the Ghana Football Association has attracted mixed reactions with a former Sports Minister calling it an overkill.

Mahama Ayariga, who was the Youth and Sports Minister between 2014 and 2015 under President Mahama, opined that it would be unfair for the Ghana Premier League, international assignments and other football related events to be suspended due to the sins of a few officials.

The Information Minister in a statement on Thursday announced that government is taking steps to dissolve the football association.

The action follows what government described as “pervasive rot” within the GFA after top football officials were captured on video taking bribe to influence various games.

“Shocked and outraged” by the investigative documentary by ace journalist Anas Aremeyaw Anas, the government believes dissolving the FA would sanitise the system.

Mahama Ayariga conceded that though dissolving the association is appropriate to root out kingpins who still have stronghold on the GFA, totally disbanding it based on the facts available is “an overkill”.

He asserted that the Ghana Football Association does not belong to the government to arrogate that prerogative of dissolving the association.

He however told Rainbow Radio he backs President Akufo-Addo’s decision to report the GFA president Kwesi Nyantakyi to the police CID when the latter used his name to woo undercover investors.

Mr. Ayariga therefore wants the about 78 match officials caught in the secretly recorded video prosecuted whilst the rest are allowed to run the FA.

By Isaac Essel

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ABOUT: Nana Kwesi Coomson

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An Entrepreneur, Corporate Social Responsibility, Corporate Communications Executive and Philanthropist. Editor-in-Chief of www.233times.com. A Senior Journalist with Ghanaian Chronicle Newspaper. An alumnus of Adisadel College where he read General Arts. His first degree is in Bachelor of Arts - Political Science (major) and History (minor) from the University of Ghana. He holds MSc in Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) and Energy with Public Relations (PR) from the Robert Gordon University in the United Kingdom. He is a 2018 Mandela Washington Fellow who studied at Clark Atlanta University in USA on the Business and Entrepreneurship track.

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