October 25th, 2019, would be remembered as one of the historic days in Ghana’s football. It was a special day after a year of stagnation that football was democratically handed over to football people.
From the rigorous vetting process through to the media engagements and the newly introduced presidential debate, this election comes second to none in the annals of GFA in terms of credibility and transparency.
This intriguing election bequeathed to the football fraternity with 12 experienced and hardworking Executive Council Members. Given the calibre of members of this new Executive Council (ExCo) and the high expectations from the football fraternity, Mr Kurt E.S. Okraku led-GFA cannot afford to disappoint Ghanaians.
Simply, the basic task for the ExCo is to is to resuscitate the ailing Ghanaian football. The football that Ghanaians follow with much pleasure and passion. The football that unites us irrespective of our socio-cultural background as well as our political and religious orientations.
In recent times, our passion for our favourite football has reduced significantly as a result of series of disappointments. In addition, our football has been besetted by a wide-range of challenges.
The conspicuous and perceptible challenges among them are the unwarranted flight of our footballers, poor conditions of our referees, bribery and corruption, perceived political interference, poor infrastructure, unnecessary ligations making our football unattractive as compared to other leagues.
Though, these are basic and systemic challenges which require time to address, the ability of ExCo to initiate policies and reforms as soon as possible will go a long way to re-ignite the needed zeal and passion for our football.
Another expectation by Ghanaians to deal with is building on previous successes. In spite of the shortcomings of the erstwhile administration, the remarkable achievements during that era is unforgettable.
The erstwhile administration bequeathed us with our maiden World Cup qualification in Germany, 2006. The triumphant victory in Egypt 2009 by our Under-20 is still indelible in the global history. We are still not oblivious of the funfair that we had as a country during the 2010 World Cup in South Africa. Ghanaians can still remember that we made six consecutive AFCON semi-finals between 2008 and 2017.
The ExCo should be reminded that they are expected to build on these successes as they serve as the benchmarks for their performance. It is our general expectations that the new ExCo surpasses these achievement.
As a reminder to the ExCo, you owe Ghanaians a World Cup qualification and a semi-final berth in Qatar 2022. You owe Ghanaians an AFCON trophy in 2021. You owe Ghanaians a stronger and competitive local league where the likes of Kotoko, Hearts of Oak, AshGold and the likes will be dominating and conquering African football. Anything short of these standards will incur the wrath of the football fraternity.
Lastly, you owe Ghanaians a corruption-free administration. We pray that never again should Ghana be subjected to international ridicule like what happened in Brazil 2014. It is our prayers that Ghana football should never be in a dire situation like what occurred after the Number 12 Exposé by Ana’s Aremeyaw Ana’s.
These are some of the lessons to guide your new administration. All the best as you sojourn towards bringing back our football.
By Hon. Kojo Asemanyi
MP-Gomoa East
