Thursday, April 16, 2009

Come what May....GFA vs Gov't

I am sure that was his reaction after the game and funny thing is Arsenal play several big teams before the end of this season.

Come what May, Arsenal shall have a trophy in our hands. That should be nice, really. After waiting so long. What happens is that the Gunners play Chelsea on Saturday, Liverpool next Tuesday and then two Man United UCL games. Having said that it is possible Arsenal can play Chelsea in the UCL final too, as well as United in the FA Cup final.

Wow, what a prospect! Whatever it is, the final stretch should be great to see. Back home, trouble here, trouble there, trouble everywhere.

Trouble here

This morning at the Secretariat of the Ghana football association the GFA president met the press to give its position on recent developments. I'll just give the pointers to what he said, the full text of which is here.

A somber looking Nyantakyi told the gathering that the alleged report the government transition team has recommended that the tenure of the FA should be reviewed or halted altogether is misleading. He also questioned the motives behind several of the transition teams’ recommendations saying that the recommendations were without legal grounds or basis.

Top of the list was the issue of auditing the accounts. Though agreeing that audits were necessary in any public institution, Mr Nyantakyi intimated that there was no current need for an audit into the 2006 world cup accounts and specifically the payment of bonuses, per diem allowances and other emoluments paid during the last mundial because he thought that would be redundant.

The GFA boss also reminded the gathering that the 2006 world cup accounts have already been audited by the Office of the Auditor General of Ghana and its findings had been seconded by Congress of the Ghana Football Association, the then Ministry for Education, Science and Sports and also the Parliament of Ghana.

Essentially Nyantakyi has asked the Government to stay the fuck out of the FA's business. Ouch."

Now the GFA boss mentioned that his outfit has difficulty in accepting the recommendation by the government transition team that the government should appoint representatives to the Management Committees of the various national teams. Mr Nyantakyi clearly stated that this amounts to interference and reminded the gathering that FIFA frowns on such acts.

The GFA boss also clarified the role of management committees, saying that such bodies hardly handle cash meant for financing programmes of the national teams. Instead the GFA boss said that direct cash components are handled by officials of the sector Ministry and not members of management committees.

Finally, the GFA boss questioned the reasoning behind the government’s interest in buses and footballs meant for the Glo Premier league supplied by sponsors to the national teams, since he claims those entities are not the bona fide property of the government, adding that the balls do not in anyway distract the proceedings of the league.

In effect, the GFA is really pissed with Hon. Muntaka and cronies. And no mistake!

In essence, the GFA president reiterated the body’s collaboration with the sports and youth ministry to ensure that Ghana achieves her target including a qualification to next year’s world cup in South Africa calling for the need for all to remain focused on work at hand.