Sports News of Thursday, 12 July 2018

Source: www.ghanaweb.com

GFA staff showed loyalty by rejecting government salary offer - Palmer

GFA Executive Committee member,  Wilfried Osei Palmer GFA Executive Committee member, Wilfried Osei Palmer

A member of the Executive Committee of the Ghana Football Association has backed the decision by staff of the association to reject an offer by the government to settle their salaries, describing it as a mark of loyalty to the embattled institution and its former President who is currently undergoing investigations for alleged corrupt practices.

The government of Ghana after a meeting with the Ghana League Clubs Association on Tuesday, July, 10, 2018 agreed to settle the salaries of the workers who are currently home due to an injunction placed on the institution in the wake of the Anas Aremeyaw Anas Number12 documentary.

But reports emanated on Wednesday, July 11 that the workers in a meeting with the two-man liaison team charged with handling football issues in the interim declined the offer, insisting that government come clear on their status.

Speaking via a phone-in interview on Accra-based Asempa FM, the chairman of the Management Committee of the Black Stars, Wilfried Osei Palmer praised the staff for showing loyalty to the association and its former President.

“Of course they had to reject it because the FA has enough money in its account and the government has frozen it. What the staff did is an act of loyalty. Since time immemorial is it government who has been paying their salaries? This strategy by government is not good at all”, he said.

Meanwhile a member of the FIFA liaison team and Technical Director of the GFA, Oti Akenteng has refuted reports that workers of the Ghana Football Association have rejected government’s initiative to pay their salaries for the month of June.

"It's not true the GFA staff have rejected government's attempt to pay their salaries, they are only asking the government to let them know when they are resuming work."

"The accountant needs time to deal with the CID who are currently in possession of computers which contains information on salaries of staff", he explained.

The Executive Committee of the FA remain relentless in its resolve to prevent the government from dissolving the association and consequently carrying out the reforms its aims to do in Ghana Football.

Earlier this month, members of the committee sent a petition to world football’s governing body, FIFA, asking the Zurich based organization to intervene in the current stand-off between the football people and the government of Ghana.

The petition prayed FIFA to hand over the responsibility of cleansing Ghana football to members of the association since they the legally mandated body to handle footballing issues in the country.