Dr Kofi Amoah was president of the Normalization Committee
Dan Kwaku Yeboah was the spokesperson for the Normalization Committee
He resigned in September 2019
Dan claims he was frustrated by Dr Kofi Amoah
Ace sports broadcaster Dan Kwaku Yeboah has opened up on the struggles he endured as the Public Relations Officer of the now-defunct Normalization Committee.
The committee which was headed by business mogul Dr Kofi Amoah was set up by the Federation of International Football Association and the government of Ghana in 2018 to oversee the restructuring of Ghana football following the Number12 documentary which toppled the Nyantakyi administration.
The committee was composed of Dr Kofi Amoah, Lawyer Naa Odofoley, Lucy Quist and Lawyer Dua Adonteng who was later replaced by Sammy Kuffour.
Dan Kwaku Yeboah who served as the mouthpiece of the committee had a difficult spell and resigned on September 2, 2021.
The head of Despite Media’s sports desk has disclosed the reason he jumped ship as spokesperson of the committee.
Dan Kwaku Yeboah told US-based Ghanaian vlogger Naana Donkor Arthur that he was sabotaged by Dr Kofi Amoah who was president of the committee.
Dan said Dr Kofi Amoah who was opposed to his appointment employed various tactics to ensure that he was made ineffective.
He disclosed that he had intended to resign from the committee earlier than he did but was talked into staying on by the then Minister of Youth and Sports, Isaac Asiamah.
He said that Isaac Asiamah finally gave in to his request after an embarrassing episode in his office during a meeting of the committee members and the minister.
“I wanted to resign for a long time but the then Sports Minister asked me to exercise patience. I was worrying him that I wanted to resign from the committee. What made him agree to my request to resign was that he called for a meeting and Dr Kofi Amoah and all the members were present. I was late for five minutes so everyone was seated when I got there.
“The moment I entered, Dr Kofi Amoah questioned why I was present at the meeting when he had not called me. That is where the minister agreed that I should resign. It was that same day that I wrote the resignation letter. I left the letter to the receptionist at the FA. People questioned why I didn’t resign earlier but in this world, we all have people we listen to.
“I don’t blame Dr Kofi Amoah. Throughout his life, he has been managing private business so he dictates what should be done. When he became the leader of the NC, he took issues with anyone who disagreed with him during meetings. It was difficult with him.
“At some point I also realized that he had friends in the Ghanaian media who he wanted to play that role but the ministry objected to it. I was not the one he wanted to work with.
“There were times FIFA sent letters and he leaked them to his friends in the Ghanaian media on my blind side. The media knew me as the PRO so I had to speak to the issues so they would call me for clarification. I would go to him and seek clearance to speak on the issues. He would ask me to hold on and the media will be on me. I feel it was a deliberate attempt by him to prove that I was incompetent. He did it deliberately and it disturbed me because everyone knew how vocal I was.
“This world is not about money. You may have money but not wealthy. It is not about the money I was being paid. Fact is that I worked seven months without a salary. It’s later that I was paid $1,000 a month. I held on to the job not because of money but because the minister didn’t want me to resign. He was drugging my reputation in the mud.
“FIFA extended our mandate and we had to do a press release. I went to him for permission to issue a release but he said no and then leak the statement to his friends in the media. The FIFA reps were shocked that we didn’t issue any release and questioned why. It was because someone was not okay with me and wanted to sabotage me,” he said.
The committee concluded its works on October 25, 2021 with the election of a new GFA President in the person of Kurt Okraku.