End of Lawal’s reign?

There appears to be an end in sight for the protracted Eastern Region Football Association (ERFA) crisis after an Accra High Court yesterday gave the Ghana Football Association (GFA) up to June 30, 2013, to conduct fresh elections to pick new officers to run the regional soccer body.

The ruling by Cocoa Affairs High Court 20 presided over by Judge Ransford Gyinae also ordered the GFA to report back to it on July 2, 2013, after the elections.

The High Court ruling followed a motion filed by Mr Geoffrey Oteng-Arthur, owner of Aburi-based Division Two side Highlanders FC, to challenge the composition of a five-man Interim Management Committee (IMC) by the GFA last year to run the ERFA until fresh elections were conducted.

In his application, Mr Oteng-Arthur prayed the Court to grant him certain reliefs, including the fact that the IMC of the Eastern Region FA as constituted by the GFA is an illegal body and that it cannot be found anywhere in the GFA statutes.

It also petitioned the court not to allow the IMC chaired by Abubakar Braimah to perform the functions of a properly elected RFA as provided in the GFA statutes, and that the Court should order the FA to conduct elections in accordance with its own statutes.

Mr Oteng-Arthur also wanted an order from the Court to restrain the old Eastern Region FA executives of the Abdul Ganiyu Lawal administration from standing for any election in the region until they have been able to account for their stewardship.

It is on record that on two occasions the previous administration presented accounts which were thrown out by the congress of the Eastern Regional FA.

Last year, an Accra High Court also ruled in favour of Mr Sampson Odei, owner of another Eastern Region division two side, in a legal battle with the GFA over the ERFA elections and accordingly ordered the Fa to conduct elections per its statutes, but the GFA rather went to the Koforidua congress to form an IMC.

But while the earlier order did not give any deadline, the new judgement gave the FA up to June 30 to conduct elections and report back to the court on July 2.

The ERFA legal battle has been raging on since 2011, making it impossible for clubs in the region to participate in any organised league. 


Story by Samuel Ebo Kwaitoo