Nana Akomea: blame Mills-Mahama administration for Olympic suspension
Former Minister of State Nana Akomea has placed the cause of the current woes of the Ghana Olympic Committee at the doorstep of the Mills-Mahama administration.
The International Olympic Committee (IOC) on Thursday, January 13, suspended the Ghanaian National Committee after government failed to take agreed steps to ensure no political interference in the body. Ghana has thus become the first African country and the second in the world to be banned a ban on Kuwait in 2010.
Speaking on Metro TV’s Good Morning Ghana Show on Friday January 14, the Former Employment and Social Welfare Minister stated that Ghana has seen the worst sports administration under the NDC government.
Government has said it should not be blamed for the latest development with the excuse that the GOC is an independent body and that government was not directly involved in its affairs.
But Nana Akomea says the Mills administration can never escape blame.
“There is something terribly wrong with the way we are administering sports and the blame should be laid at the doorstep of the Government. They should be advised and told that it is not everything that should be politicized. Now all that we achieved in South Africa and the rest is becoming a disgrace with what is happening in sports administration engineered by the government” he said.
According to Nana Akomea, when the NDC came to power in 2009, it removed chairmen of all National Sports Associations including that of the Olympic Committee.
“They appointed Professor Doodo to take charge of the Olympics Committee and Nii Lantey Vanpuije and his people were saying that they (NDC) were in power so they could do what they think is right”.
Nana Akomea further explained that when the time for the Committee’s elections came, Government put forth Professor Doodo for the contest but this was a breach of the rules governing the IOC’s elections
“The rule is that nominations must come 21 days before the election. Professor Dodoo’s nomination came less than 21 days before the elections. And people who had been appointed by Government were not to run for the elections” he said.
He said Mr. B.T. Baba, who was recognised by the IOC was forced to go to Court after Government had sent security operatives to seize some assets belonging to his (B.T. Baba’s) administration. Even after the Court ruled in favour of B.T. Baba, Government failed to recognise him and settle the matter amicably.
“We have had various warnings so we should not pretend that we were not aware. We had two years to resolve the issue, what were we waiting for? Are we the only Government in Africa that we have to bully everybody? At the Commonwealth games in India, Ghana was nearly pushed out because of all this foolishness taking place at the IOC. The embarrassment is too much” he said.
He said the recent imposition of Abedi Pele on the Ghana Football Association for a Caf post by Government and a warning by Fifa against political interference in the nation’s football administration, clearly shows that Government has failed in sports administration.
Minister of Communications and MP for Tamale South, Hon. Haruna Iddrisu disagreed with some of Nana Akomea’s claims, explaining that most of the mishaps were as a result of miscommunication.
He was hopeful that new Sports Minister Hon. Kofi Humado will deal with the current bottlenecks.
Source Citifmonline
Category: Politics
