“President Akufo-Addo has been ill-informed on the autonomy of GFA” – Foh Amoaning

Accra, Jan. 18, – Mr. Moses Foh Amoaning, a private legal practioner and a member of the three–man 2014 World Cup Commission of Enquiry, has said that, President Nana Addo Dankwa Akuffo-Addo has been “wrongly briefed” on the autonomy of the Ghana Football Association (GFA).

The President on Wednesday, during an interaction with the media at the Flagstaff House said, the executive arm of government, would not interfere in the administration of football in the country.

“My understanding is that, the rules of Federation of International Football Association (FIFA), makes the GFA an independent organization.

“And that those who are involved in football administration in the country would deal with issues of mismanagement, if there is one. It is a basic rule and FIFA is insistent on that. There should be no executive interference in the administration football anywhere,” the president said.

But according to Mr Foh Amoaning, the president’s view on the autonomy of the Football Association (FA) was wrong adding that, it is not the correct position of international law.

Mr Foh Amoaning who said this in an interview with the GNA Sports on Thursday, noted that the president shouldn’t be deluded into believing that the GFA is autonomous and can’t be controlled.

He said that there is no international law backing the autonomy of Associations, such as GFA and its mother body - FIFA.

“He (president) has not been briefed properly about the autonomy of the GFA. FIFA itself is not autonomous. If you read our report there is a whole section on Ghana’s relationship with FIFA, where we discussed the international law position on the so called autonomy of FIFA.

“We discussed the international law position on the matter. It is not true that any international organisation can be a law on itself. Because in international laws, it is the state parties or countries that have the sovereign power. So if an international association think they can act on their own, it is not true,” he stressed.

“After we submitted our report, the United States government raided the FIFA headquarters and locked some of them up. What is more interventionist than that and why is that FIFA didn’t ban America? They couldn’t because in reality it is the countries that have delegated their powers to them to operate.

“So if the state parties thinks that something is going wrong, they can control these international organisations and that is why FIFA itself is under control.”

Mr Foh Amoaning however admonished the government to consult the 2014 document to get an enlightened perspective on the subject matter.

“Such issues have been captured in the report and the government should study it and know the correct international position on the matter. Because it is not true that FIFA itself is autonomous let alone the GFA ,” he noted.

He said the GFA is a public institution, because it was the only Association that was managing football on behalf of Ghanaians and cannot be free from government intervention if things are being mismanaged there.

“If there is a crime being committed and their accounts are being fraudulently handled, the government can step in and ensure that the right things are done. “

GNA