THE AFRICAN COURIER. Reporting Africa and its Diaspora! The African Courier is an international magazine published in Germany to report on Africa and the Diaspora African experience. The first issue of the bimonthly magazine appeared on the newsstands on 15 February 1998. The African Courier is a communication forum for European-African political, economic and cultural exchanges, and a voice for Africa in Europe.
The Ghanaian government has decided to dissolve the country’s football association after claims, in an undercover documentary, of bribe-taking by referees and kickbacks to top officials.
Information minister Mustapha Abdul-Hamid said “the government had decided to take immediate steps to have the GFA (Ghana Football Association) dissolved” because of the “widespread nature of the apparent rot”.
The revelations, filmed over two years by an investigative journalist and first revealed on Wednesday, have sent shockwaves through Ghana, where football is the national sport.
GFA president Kwesi Nyantyaki was also caught on camera allegedly requesting $11 million from undercover reporters posing as investors to secure government contracts.
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He also apparently tried to profit personally from a $5 million-a-year, five-year sponsorship deal with the GFA in what the expose said was a “clear breach” of ethics.
The information minister said the documentary “exposes gross malfunctioning of the Ghana Football Association characterised by widespread fraud, corruption and bribery”.
The conduct of all GFA officials and the suspended director-general of the National Sports Authority, Robert Sarfo Mensah, was referred to police for further investigation and any “appropriate action”, he added.
Provisional measures will be put in place to run the sport in Ghana until a new body is formed.
© Reuters
