If one needed a reminder of how much liberation the Number 12 documentary has brought to Ghana football, Friday, September, the day four aspirants for the GFA elections filed their nomination forms, will do the trick.
Like a flock of sheep who have been set loose by their shepherd after decades of lock up, the aspirants arrived at the GFA secretariat amid pomp and pageantry.
Feel free to call it a party or jamboree of a group of people who gathered for the time to have a feast over the overthrow of their cruel and oppressive ruler.
It was a show of power and opulence. A re-enactment of the jubilations that characterized the declaration of Ghana’s independence in 1957, only that in this case, the celebrations were confined to the four corners of the GFA secretariat.
Seated at the back seat of his car with Shatta Wale’s ‘kill them with prayers’ track blazing through the speakers, Kurt Okraku arrived with his set of fans who sang and chanted his name.
Akin to that of an aspirant of a governing party, George Afriyie made his way to the venue in a convoy led by a group of bikers who were described as "landguards" by online portal, footballmadeinghana.
Nana Yaw Amponsah came with some members of his campaign team while Amanda Clinton and George Ankomah, two people who wouldn’t dare picking nomination forms under the era of the ‘despotic emperor’ also joined the funfair.
Typical of him, Fred Pappoe turned up with no army, exchanged pleasantries with media men present before proceeding to file his forms. Palmer (who has been disqualified) had submitted his a day earlier.
But do you blame them, no!
For the first time in over ten years, they have a chance to make reality a dream they’ve been harboring for decades.
For the first time in over ten years, there will be more than one name on the GFA presidential ballot including a woman which is monumental in the drive for equality in football.
For the first time in over ten years, you have aspirants touring every nook and cranny of the nation to share their messages, contrary to the usual Accra-based campaign by Nyantakyi.
For the first time in over ten years discussions on GFA elections are centred on policy ideas and manifiestoes but not machinations by a ‘kangaroo’ committee to disqualify aspirants.
For the first time in over ten years the GFA president will not be confirmed at a gathering of praise singers in a corner at the Tamale Stadium nor is it going to be a walkover for Nyantakyi.
For the first time in over ten years, clubs are openly declaring support for their preferred candidates without fears of being victimized by the ‘emperor’.
Aspirants are criss-crossing each other as they spread their messages which they believe will save Ghana football from its current abysmal state.
Nana Yaw Amponsah is spreading his ‘reformation and rebranding’ agenda, Kurt is everywhere with his ‘game changer’ story, George Afriyie is preaching the gospel of ‘restoring Ghana football’.
Amanda Clinton has a grand plan of ‘meterphosising Ghana football’, George Ankomah’s message is centred on ‘transparency and wealth creation’ and Papsey launched his manifesto with a succinct message of ‘reviving Ghana football’.
The 2019 GFA Elections is historic, massive and unique but that has been made possible by the ‘liberator’ Anas Aremeyaw Anas whose investigative piece brought an end to Nyantakyi’s ‘dictatorship’.
The six presidential aspirants for the 2019 GFA elections