The Vice Chairman of the Parliamentary Select Committee on Youth, Sports and Culture, and Member of Parliament, (MP), for Gomoa East, has called on the new Executives of The Ghana Football Association, (GFA), to bring back the joy, that comes with football.
In statement titled: “Bringing back our football; a challenge to the new Executives Council of GFA”, made on The Floor of Parliament, Kojo Asemanyi reminded the newly elected executives that the task of bringing back our football is simple but very daunting and challenging.
“Broadly, your simple task is to repair the sorry state of our football which has culminated in the impoverishment of our local footballers”.
He changed them to be “thinking of how to deal with the unwarranted flight of our footballers to ‘third tier’ football nations abroad and the poor conditions of our referees which in turn leads to the unfortunate incidents of bribery and corruption in our beloved game”.
He however, used the opportunity to congratulate the newly elected GFA Executive Council members led by the President, Kurt E.S Okraku.
The Ranking Member on Youth, Sports and Culture, Kobena Mensah Woyome said “the outcome of last Friday’s elections made it clearer that football people are better placed to manage our Football and we therefore urge Government to stay away from football, put a stop to any form of subtle interference like it did during the tenure of the NC by appointing known Government officials to the Management Committee of the Black Stars ahead of the 2019 AFCON in Egypt, which resulted in one of the worst campaigns in the history of Ghana Football”.
“With the new Executives in place Mr. Speaker, we call on the corporate entities in the Country to partner the GFA, invest in strategic areas of our football including the Local League, Grassroots Football and Player Development for the general improvement of the game, so that we can realise the optimum health and economic benefits of football as a Country”, he added.
Mr. Woyome, urged the newly elected GFA President, Kurt Okraku, and his team to work round the clock to gradually wean the FA and Ghana Football in general off government funding to consolidate the FA’s independence.
He again called on them to create the financial space for government to effectively fund the lesser-known sports that have suffered greatly because of lack of funding and the much needed investment.
Story filed Edzorna Francis Mensah
