Government has halted its process of seeking to dissolve the Ghana Football Association (GFA) to prevent the country from being banned by FIFA and football activities to return to normalcy.
As part of the deal with football’s world governing from banning the country, the Attorney General has told an Accra High Court that it is no longer interested in the action.
The Attorney General, Gloria Akuffo, filed an application for leave to discontinue a petition for the official liquidation of the GFA after alleged acts of corruption within the federation.
An Accra High Court on July 12, 2018 restrained the officials of the GFA from carrying out their official duties by granting an interlocutory injunction application filed by the Attorney General on behalf of government.
The court also granted an application by the AG to appoint the Registrar of Companies as the official liquidator of the GFA as government takes steps to dissolve the football governing body in the country.
But the action by government did not go down well with FIFA as the action was deemed to have been direct government interference in the sport which led to a threat of a ban.
FIFA issued a 10-day ultimatum to government to discontinue its petition to have the GFA dissolved or face a ban from football. In FIFA’s view, the move constitutes “government interference”.
Government officials subsequently met with FIFA executives in Zurich, Switzerland, where government decided to back down on its decision to dissolve GFA.
A statement was later issued to that effect and it stated that “the GoG shall take steps to discontinue the process for the winding up of the Ghana Football Association.”
It also stated that a normalisation committee will be set up to replace the GFA Executive Committee to run the daily affairs of the GFA and cooperate with the joint government of Ghana and FIFA/CAF task force, once the petition to liquidate the GFA was withdrawn.
The AG has now filed an application to officially withdraw the petition seeking the liquidation and official winding up of the GFA.
In an affidavit in support of the motion, it said government and FIFA have engaged in series of meetings to find interim measures for the administration of football in Ghana.
It said “As far as the daily operations of the GFA are concerned, FIFA in consultation with the government of Ghana shall appoint a Normalisation Committee to replace the GFA Executive Committee. The Normalisation Committee will, among other things, assume the powers of the GFA, review the statutes of GFA and make all decisions regarding the future of football in Ghana”.
It added that government, FIFA and CAF will form a Special Task Force to create proper disciplinary, governance and auditing bodies in order to ensure that any wrongdoing assessed and sanctioned by the laws of Ghana are punished.
