Andre Ayew to appear before Parliament
Ghana to play Nigeria in 2022 World Cup playoffs
The spokesperson for the Ayew family, Fiifi Tackie has argued that the Speaker of Parliament Alban Bagbin has no power to stop the Black Stars from playing Nigeria in the 2022 World Cup playoffs.
The Speaker of parliament had disclosed that parliament will order a forfeiture of the fixture if Parliament's select committee on Youth and Sports deems it a not prudent exercise for government.
However, Fiifi Tackie who is the spokesperson for the Ayews, it is not within the remit of the Speaker of Parliament to stop the Black Stars from playing Nigeria.
In an exclusive interview with Ghanaweb, Fiifi Tackie said "with all due respect to the Speaker who is the number 3 gentleman of the land, I don't think he has the powers to stop Ghana from playing Nigeria. He hasn’t got those powers to start with,” Fiifi Tackie said
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He urged that “ I expect our media colleagues to correct these things when people say things like that, you report things but you have to correct the speaker as well.”
Fiifi Tackie view is corroborated by former Youth and Sports Minister, Mahama Ayariga who views the directive as an aberration and interference in football matters.
The Bawku Central MP said that Parliament has no legitimacy to investigate performance by national teams at tournaments.
“I doubt Parliament has such powers. I doubt Parliament has the powers to first probe into what happened at the tournament and also stopping a national team from playing a game. Parliament has no such powers. Going to the tournament and not performing well is not a scandal for you probe.”
According to the world football governing body’s regulations, government must not interfere in football-related matters hence the country’s participation in tournaments would be suspended by FIFA.
Following Ghana’s group-stage exit at the AFCON 2021, Alban Bagbin noted that parliament would review a report to determine whether the Black Stars will be allowed to play the Nigeria game or forfeit it.
“It’s important that we take a very serious view of it and that’s why the investigation, so at the end of the day this house will have the opportunity to discuss, debate it and then we take a decision.”
“I think that we should consider the matter before any further engagement of the Black Stars with any team towards whether qualifying for the World Cup or whatever, so that we can deal with it and try to right the wrongs before if necessary we engage Nigeria for the qualifying match and if we deem it not necessary we will say so,” Bagbin said on the floor of Parliament.
View Alban Bagbin's Timepath below:
