David Tagoe
17 June 2011
At long last, the day is finally here. The day when the Ghana Football Association (GFA) goes to Congress to hold its presidential election, that would be without the various trappings – drama, excitement, tension and competition that normally characterize elections.
Being a game that thrives on passion, expectations have always been that any football-related event, not least presidential election should have all the ingredients accompanying it, but like the re-election recently of FIFA President, Joseph Sepp Blatter, the GFA would today re-elect the incumbent, Kwesi Nyantakyi in what can easily be described as a one horse race.
This follows disqualification of Vincent Odotei Sowah and Neil Armstrong-Mortagbe, who failed to get their nomination forms endorsed by accredited members of the football establishment.
Indeed, Odotei Sowah was not taken seriously when he decided to put up a challenge for the presidency, perhaps, as a result of the miserable defeat he suffered in the previous elections to the same person.
However, Neil Armstrong-Mortagbe’s announcement of his decision to contest the elections changed the complexion of the whole exercise, as different personalities within what appears to be a cabal in Ghana football publicly called upon him to shelve the idea of contesting Kwesi Nyantakyi, who was elected at the last election.
Ahead of his re-election, Kwesi Nyantakyi, aware of the nosedive Ghana football has taken, culminating in the failure of the Black Starlets, Satellites, Meteors and Queens to qualify for major international tournaments, has promised to make sweeping changes in Ghana football to catapult it to glorious heights.
But before making those sweeping changes, Kwesi Nyantakyi must secure more than half of the votes from the 123 delegates, who would throng Prampram, where the Congress would take place.
“We’ll come out with a blueprint for football development. We want to take football to the top, a different level and we want to improve upon the modest level that we’ve chalked over the past five years,” Nyantakyi said.
“I believe with the rest of all of you we’ll be able to take Ghana to the bracket of the top leagues of nations in the world. The league, juvenile football, refereeing, coaching, women’s football, administration itself and even in areas that we think we’ve made some strides will still be reviewed with the view of moving forward.”
AllAfrica – All the Time