President of the Ghana Football Association (GFA), Kurt E.S Okraku, has vehemently stated that sanctions will be taken against individuals who've decided to interfere in association’s administration to damage the image of the football ecosystem.
Okraku said this while speaking at the 29th Ghana Football Association Ordinary Congress at the Great Hall of the Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology in Kumasi.
He disclosed that people behind this canker will be dealt with by the GFA at the law court, as they have commenced investigation with security agencies to fish out the perpetrators.
”In our quest to rebuild the football brand in Ghana. There has been so failed attempts which includes the ban imposed on the Black Maidens [U17 female team] and Black Satellites failures on the African continent”
“Some of the bad moments also include a continuous canker that currently exist in our football ecosystem. When we took office we established one canker that's attempts by people in the football ecosystem, who always nicodemously go into the administrative part of our game, fish out documents, and push them into the public space to malign people and damage the image of our sports.”
“These cankers still exist. In the last few months, we've had people within and without the football ecosystem picking up memos, doctoring documents and using same to malign and damage individuals in our sport”
“Honourable Minister, what we failed to recognize is that such bad habits maybe damaging to the leader of the FA but it's more damaging to our football brand," he added
Okraku assured that such individuals within the football ecosystem with the mindset of destroying the establishment will be facing the laws of Ghana soon.
In recent times, people have used phones to take photographs of documents within the FA and same have been reported to the security agencies and soon people will be brought to justice”
“You may think that you're after Kurt Okraku or any individual at the FA but you're also after your own shadow. This is not football. As football people we always have to think about football and ideas to improve our game and not ways to destroy the FA by going to FA edifices in darkness to take memos with phone photographs to malign and preach falsehood about the establishment, this will not wash. Our football people gather here know what they want.”
“We want a clean ecosystem and not interested lies as well as defamation of characters. Be what we all forget is that by virtue of where I sit, I hold the files to everybody who has worked within the football ecosystem. I can use same to defame, malign people and most importantly to tarnish the greater good of our football but that's not the way and I'll never do that. I'll protect football and speak football."
“I’m not interested in destroying the brand, Ghana football. If I indeed you love Ghana football you should be interested in building the brand and not to be destroyed. When we took over, this brand was badly damaged.”
Okraku expressed his profound gratitude to the people of Ghana for the unflinching support since he was elected into the highest office of Ghana Football in 2019.
He announced his intention to seek re-election for the FA Presidential seat in the upcoming elections.
