Ghana's football association dissolved after bribery claims
June 7, 2018
FIFA announced that it has suspended Ghanaian football president Kwesi Nyantakyi for 90 days as it investigates possible ethics violations, football's governing body said on Friday.
The suspension comes a day after 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.
Nyantakyi (pictured above) was caught on camera allegedly requesting $11 million from undercover reporters posing as investors to secure government contracts.
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 revelations, filmed over two years by an investigative journalist and first revealed on Wednesday, have sent shock waves through Ghana, where football is the national sport.
Information minister Mustapha Abdul-Hamid said the government was "shocked and outraged" at the claims, which included referees apparently accepting bribes of at least $100 (€85) to throw matches.
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.
FIFA has not yet commented on whether it will take any action regarding the GFA's dissolution. The body does not accept any third party, including government, interference in football associations.
mds/pfd (AFP, Reuters)