By: Franklin ASARE-DONKOH
The Speaker of Ghana’s Parliament. Rt. Hon. Alban Bagbin has hinted that Ghana football was brought to its lowest knees by the antagonistic documentary that resulted in the Former Ghana Football Association (GFA) President who also doubles as FIFA Executive Council member, Mr. Kwesi Nyantakyi’s ban from football.
It would be recalled that the world’s football governing body FIFA handed Mr. Nyantakyi was a lifetime ban after the antagonistic documentary came out but it was later reduced to 15 years by the Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS) following an appeal by the former GFA president.
The former FIFA Executive Council member was also fined CHF 500,000 for breaches of Fifa’s ethics code.
He was found guilty of breaking Fifa rules relating to conflicts of interest, bribery, and corruption and commission after an investigation by the Ethics Committee of world football’s governing body.
This was after Ghanaian investigative journalist Anas Aremeyaw Anas released a documentary titled Number 12, in which Nyantakyi was captured accepting a $65,000 bribe.
This antagonistic documentary is what broke the camel’s back by sending Ghana football into the abyss.
Addressing members and newly sworn-in executives to steer the affairs of the corps, the Speaker has this to say: “When we were able to bring down Kwesi Nyantakyi, we also brought down Ghana football,” adding that the position the former GFA Boss was holding was one of the brightest spots at FIFA.
“When I met the Executives of FIFA and said I was the Speaker of the Parliament of Ghana, they said what happened? Why did you people do that?
He (Nyantakyi) was a dynamic addition. The value that he carried at their meetings. He was highly respected, he was very influential and Ghana football was up there. We thought we were handling Nyantakyi but we didn’t know we were handling the whole of Ghana.
According to Mr. Bagbin, there are calls for the government to bring back Nyantakyi.
“People are calling for the government to forgive Nyantakyi and bring him back to assist,” the Speaker alleged.
The Speaker of Ghana’s Parliament credited Black Star’s recent success of qualifying for the 2022 FIFA World Cup at the expense of Nigeria to Otto Addo’s technical team and the players’ fighting spirit.
“We were able to perform the wonders in Nigeria because of the new technical team that we put in place,” he noted.
“We were able to gather potential young players of the future and they were prepared to die for Ghana.”
“If we keep this team for some time, I assure you it’s not just the FIFA games (World Cup) we are going to play, Ghana will be up there again.”
