Former Chairperson of the Ghana Football Association, Dr. Nyaho Nyaho-Tamakloe has attributed the recent woes of resigned president of the Ghana Football Association, Kwesi Nyantakyi to his ‘unfortunate’ decision to connect football to politics.
Taking his turn on the ’21 Minutes with KKB’ show, Dr. Tamakloe who worked with Kwesi Nyantakyi as his deputy expressed disappointment in the fact that the latter ‘let down his guard’ by taking very careless decisions that have massively tainted his hard earned reputation and his career in football.
He believes that with the level of achievement Mr. Nyantakyi had attained, there was absolutely no reasoning in trying to use his affiliation to political powers to influence deals and gain favours when he could easily have contracted genuine deals with unpretentious investors.
“Kwesi was able to get himself to Vice President of CAF which is very good for the country and then also he has become a member of the FIFA executive which is also very good for the nation. Now if you’ve been able to get to this level, who at all on earth should be able to trick you to come that low again? His problem was Kwesi wanted to connect football with politics. This is where his problems started and if I was close to him, I would have warned him.”
“They can’t be siblings and the way he went about it I’m not surprised he failed, the expose can tell you. If he even wanted to get close to political power, that’s not the way to go about it. He wanted to give the impression as if he was part of the ruling government”
“I have no problem at all being close to political power but don’t try to use that political power to gain favours and that was what he was trying to do. It wasn’t necessary. Kwesi could have easily and genuinely got in touch with very good sponsors with real good money, not these pretenders.
Dr. Tamakloe is of the conviction that Mr. Nyantakyi’s decision to part ways with his first Vice, Fred Pappoe was also a major contribution to the problems that have bedeviled the association. For him, Fred Pappoe who was more mature and experienced would have foreseen such disasters and given him the requisite advice and warning to avert it.
The FA Boss’ autonomy he noted, was also a major contribution to his fall.
“What also surprised me is that it appeared, from what I see, that he was working independently of the executive of his own organization and that was also very dangerous”.
“When I was with him, himself and Fred Pappoe were my best lieutenants, Kwesi didn’t show any sign of inordinate ambition. I think Kwesi parting ways with Fred Pappoe for some reasons may have caused some of these things because they were so close and Fred is an experienced mature person although are of the same age. I don’t think if he was involved Fred Pappoe, he would have experienced some of these things because Fred is an experienced thinker”, he told Ghanaweb Editor, Kwabena Kyenkyenhene Boateng.
Dr. Tamakloe’s comments come on the back of the latest expose from the camp of investigative journalist Anas Aremeyaw Anas and the huge chaos it has sparked in the Ghana Football Association and the public at large.
Kwesi Nyantakyi and a number of referees and National Sports Authority officials were captured in the documentary, engaging in corrupt deals with some investors and taking bribes to influence the outcome of matches.
The FA Boss following the documentary, has apologized to President Akufo-Addo and the entire Ghanaian populace and subsequently resigned.
His apology and resignation followed government’s announcement of a possible dissolution of the Ghana Football Association and a ban from FIFA on the embattled football president for 90 days.
