The leadership of the Ghana Football Association (GFA) has ended fruitful engagements with the core stakeholders of the federation.
The meetings that started on Friday, April 24, 2020 with the RFAs, with each lasting about 4 hours, was meant to update members on the finances of the GFA, the much-talked-about FIFA Forward operations Funds, the FIFA COVID-19 Emergency Fund and the way forward for Ghana football, among others.
Clubs that play in the first and second-tier leagues for both men and women and the 10 Regional Football Associations took part in the exercise that spanned a week to enable each participant enough time to make contributions.
President Kurt E.S Okraku and General Secretary Prosper Harrison Addo took time to explain things to representatives of the clubs and the RFAs with interventions and contributions from Vice-President Mark Addo and members of the Executive Council.
The open engagements included discussions on varied topics from financial support to clubs, renovation of the GFA Headquarters, GFA’s engagement with the government of Ghana for a share of the COVID-19 stimulus package, the decision to give Ghanaman Soccer Centre of Excellence to help the government in the fight against COVID-19, the 2019/20 season, the Westhead vs GFA court case and general updates on various areas of work being undertaken by the GFA.
The GFA also gave updates on its various meetings with government and the proposal sent through the Ministry of Youth and Sports on the stimulus package and various requests such as exemption on VAT on gate proceeds, import duties on soccer equipment e.g. national teams’ jerseys, interest-free loans, etc.
“I think this has been a very good and useful exercise,” said General Secretary Prosper Harrison Addo.
“We needed to update our members on issues and to seek their views and contributions on various areas of the Association. I would like to thank all the clubs and the RFAs for their participation, contributions and suggestions,” he added.
The General Secretary further stated that “we have very resourceful and insightful members who made excellent contributions and provided valuable viewpoints on the development of the game during the engagements.
“The Executive Council will continue with our engagements with other stakeholders for a clear decision on the way forward and support for our membership in a difficult time like this.
“The government has been very open and we appreciate their support thus far and we shall continue to engage them until we bring finality to the matter,” he noted.
The GFA, on March 16, 2020, closed its offices and suspended all football activities because of the COVID-19 pandemic and its associated ban on all sporting activities by the State.
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