.jpg "Dr Nduom, football delegation stopped from travelling - Govt team in Zurich though")
Dr Nduom, football delegation stopped from travelling - Govt team in Zurich though
A second meeting between football’s world governing body, FIFA and Ghana in Zurich will be without any football representation as its delegation was prevented from travelling last Wednesday.
However, a meeting will be held today between FIFA’s representatives and a delegation representing the Ghana government as efforts are made to resolve the crisis that has hit Ghana football.
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Initially scheduled to be a meeting for yesterday involving a delegation from Ghana football to be represented by Kweku Baaka Eyiah, Alex Asante, Deputy General Secretary in charge of international competitions, and Dr Papa Kwesi Nduom, representing the clubs, that meeting was called off as FIFA withdrew its invitation to the football delegation at the last hour.
However, as it happened last week Friday, when the government indicated that the first meeting had been postponed but which eventually took place, the government delegation, made up of the Youth and Sports Minister, Isaac Asiamah, Mr Samuel Abu Jinapor, Deputy Chief of Staff, and Godfred Dame, Deputy Attorney- General, are in Zurich for the while a delegate of football, delegation Solomon Mudege, was prevented from travelling at the Kotoka International Airport last Wednesday night, due to the withdrawal of FIFA’s invitation.
A letter signed by the Senior Development Manager for Africa and Carribean Regions and copied to Dr Papa Kwesi Nduom and Kweku Baaka Eyiah, the football reps, said:
“Due to the Ghanaian government’s insistence that the court injunction against Ghana FA is still valid, we have had to withdraw your invitations to the meeting in Zurich.
“We understand that your participation in the meeting would be against the relevant Ghanaian laws and you might personally face certain sanctions. As such, we advise you not to travel to Zurich.
“A letter has been sent to the Ghanaian government confirming that only FIFA and Ghana government will participate in the meeting in Zurich. A new date of Friday, June 29, has been set for the meeting.
“We apologise for any inconvenience caused and assure you of our commitment to resolving the current issues in Ghana football.”
While Mr Eyiah has declined to comment on the latest development, Dr Nduom does not just feel embarrassed by what happened at the airport last Wednesday, but he is upset that the Ministry of Youth and Sports, which is representing the government in this issue, denied him the courtesy of telling him about the latest development, instead of the incident that happened at the airport.
Dr Nduom believed it was important to find a solution to the problem without any political colouring as it was important to resolve it so football can be revived.
“No one person has the solution. We all need to sit down and find a lasting solution to the problem so that life can go on for those whose livelihood depend on football.
“We will wait for what the next steps are to be taken and what FIFA will do and say next.”