ONE EXCELLENT TENURE DESERVES ANOTHER TENURE SAYS DAUD ARIF (PREZ WA SUNTAA SC) AS HE RALLY BEHIND GFA PREZ KURT OKRAKU

The shutdown and collapse of Ghana football in 2018 following the revelations from the Anas Expose dealt a huge blow to the beautiful game widely regarded as the passion of the nation considering how it rallies everyone around and unite us as a people.

Many are those who still cannot forgive Ana’s and his team for the expose which virtually crashed dream of the then FA President Mr Kwesi NYANTAKYI who tipped to climb the global football administration ladder as demonstrated in the positions he occupied at the Continental level at CAF as well as the Global Level at FIFA.

Bringing down such a man laid bare the consequences on the local football scene as well as the nation’s dream of having a son at the World Football Global stage contributing in taking decisions to drive the popular sports of football. It was such a sad spectacle rendering a nation hopeless and helpless. This required a roadmap in an attempt to restructure and revamp football administration in Ghana. It thus witnessed the setting up of the Normalization Committee with the guidance of FIFA to lay the foundation for football to return to normal and to be run smoothly.

The climax of work of Dr Kofi Amoah-led Normalisation Committee was the scheduling of congress for the election of football administrators at the various structural levels in conformity with the GFA Statutes. The National Congress for the election of the GFA President as well as the Executive Committee Members witnessed the election of Mr Simon Kurt Okraku as the new GFA President to steer the affairs of Ghana football for a four-year tenure commencing 2019. With less a year to go for the next Congress, the performance of the GFA President has been encouraging and stellar with a number of achievements to his credit as the captain of the ship.

Leading the all-powerful Executive Committee of the GFA whose membership is drawn from the very critical stakeholders of.Ghana Football such as the Juvenile Football, Women’s League, Division One League, the Premier League among others, Mr Kurt Okraku has ensured that every facet of the football ecosystem in Ghana gets it share of all that he has been able to do so far for football development in Ghana. Every single intervention that he makes prioritizes the needs and interests of those who matter such as the clubs, club owners, players, and officials.

It is public knowledge that a number of sponsorship deals have been secured for the various leagues such as the Premier League being sponsored by Betpawa, the Division one League being sponsored by Access Bank and the Women’s League being sponsored by Malta Guinness. The President of the FA through his instrumentality has provided direct support to the football clubs through the provision and supply of a number of logistics and equipment such as footballs, boots, etc. In similar vein, support to Division One Clubs in particular witnessed the provision of Five Thousand Cedis Shopping Vouchers to all forty-eight clubs from Melcom Ghana in addition to a further Fifteen Thousand Cedis worth of fuel coupons to the same clubs from GOIL. These are direct interventions that have a gone a log way to ameliorate the usual dire and precarious financial situation of the clubs.

Having assumed office in 2019 after Ghana failed to qualify for the World Cup for the first time since we joined Yh global masterpiece in 2006, the FA in collaboration with other stable holders brought smiles to the faces of the passionate Ghanaians by qualifying the Black Stars to the just/ended first ever World Cup held in the Gulf. This particular qualification was secured at the back of a play off win over probably our bitterest African Football rivals-the Super Eagles of Nigeria. Beating Nigeria at any stage or event means so much to the average Ghanaian. Notwithstanding the Black Stars inability to emerge from the group stages at the World Cup, the spirited performance of the team and the brilliant display by some hitherto unknown members of the current squad speaks volumes about the vision of the FA in scouting and bringing home the best talent available to play for the National Team. This is a team with a lot of potential and promise stemming from the fact that Ghana had the youngest average age at the tournament in Qatar. The splendid, seamless and incident/free coordination of the activities of the team from pre-tournament up to the end of the tournament speaks a lot about the management credentials of the FA led by the President.

By the performance of the FA and the various organs so far in their first four-year tenure there is a lot of hope in what Mr Kurt Okraku and his charges can achieve for the nation in terms of football.

It thus apt and opportune to give him another shot of the presidency to keep delivering as the GAME CHANGER we need for Ghana football.