Having been openly exposed and rebuked vehemently from all sides in the ‘Number 12’ video, the most ‘honorable’ thing for the FA Boss was resigning if he indeed had any hopes of preserving if any, the ‘last bit of honor’ he may have in the eyes of Ghanaians, Government’s spokesperson on Governance and Legal Affairs, Herbert Krapa has said.
Resigned Ghana Football Association Boss, Kwesi Nyantakyi was captured in the latest investigative piece of ace journalist, Anas Aremeyaw Anas, among other things, taking an amount of $65 million from investors to influence some matches. He also used the names of President, Akufo-Addo and Vice, Dr. Mahamudu Bawumia under false pretense to influence transactions between investors.
He has since the screening, received massive backlash from various sections of the public, many calling for his resignation. He subsequently apologized in a released statement, to the President of Ghana and Ghanaians and resigned.
His apology and resignation came after government announced a dissolution of the Ghana Football Association and hours after FIFA banned the embattled football president for 90 days.
Speaking on CitiTV’s ‘Big Issue’, Mr. Krapa though admitted the fact that the embattled FA Boss practically had no choice because he had been banned from engaging in any football related activities, his ultimate decision to resign was the best choice as it would at least be remembered in the history books that he resigned.
“Mr. Nyantakyi’s resignation if there was any last honor left for him to hold on to, that was it and he’s resigned, I think it was just the honorable thing to do. Much Ado about nothing or not, for the record, he at least resigned.”, he said.
Speaking however on Government’s reaction to the issue; taking steps to dissolve the GFA, Mr. Krapa indicated that it was hard for government to keep some members of the association with the excuse that they weren’t identified as having engaged in corruption in the said documentary, while others were ‘sacked’ particularly because they were captured in the video.
“Government’s reaction, Government receives reports about different things happening in different sectors of government and sometimes you ask some people to step aside, you launch a full scale investigation into the matter and depending on the report that comes out you determine whether they should come out to post etc. but when you look at this particular tape and you see how deeply the rot eats into every department of the Association, it is difficult for anyone to think that this particular set up should be there, who are you going to take out and who are you going to leave behind? What will be your basis?”
“The fact that one particular person was not captured on tape? When you look at it, it seems to be the general norm and it is difficult for you to say that because this one person was not captured, stay behind and be in charge…..it is very difficult for government to come to that decision. The public is outraged, government is equally outraged, the confidence that the GFA should have, the mantra of fairplay cannot be there if we have that set up still administering our football”.
