Disqualified GFA presidential aspirant, George Afriyie, has asked his lawyers to file and appeal at the Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS) against the decision of the Appeals Committee to uphold the ruling of the Elections Committee disqualifying him from this year’s polls.
JoySports understands, aside from the appeal to be filed at CAS, an application for injunction on the GFA elections will be filed at the Accra High Court.
Mr Afriyie’s appeal was dismissed by the Appeals Committee on the grounds that he did not meet the requirements to contest for the position of president of the football governing body in Ghana.
It noted that “The invalidity of any document cannot be cured by reference to article 8(3) of the Elections Regulations. Indeed, if Mr George Kwasi Afriyie had submitted invalid Tax Clearance Certificate or invalid Police Clearance Certificate, it would have made his nomination invalid.”
This was in reference Mr Afriyie’s appeal with claim the Elections Committee misdirected itself on the law of requirements to contest for the GFA Presidency and also misapplied article 8(3) of the GFA Regulations on Elections and article 13(2)(j) of the GFA Statutes 2019, thus, describing the disqualification as erroneous.
Aside from this, the Elections Committee, which is supposed to be comprised of five members per article 54 of the GFA Statutes 2019, were six during his vetting, and this, he says, is contrary to the mandated composition of the panel.
However, the Appeals Committee said the said sixth person is an “…in-house lawyer of the Ghana Football Association. The lawyer was not part of the Vetting Team and did not ask George Kwasi Afriyie any question. The lawyer provided administrative assistance to the committee.”
In response to his position that the Committee breached rule of “Natural Justice and Fair Hearing” of his candidature when it failed, neglected, and refused to apply article 8(3) of the FA regulations on elections, the Appeals Committee said “…it is not a case that a Police Clearance Certificate or passport picture had not been included which would have warranted the application of article 8(3) of the Elections Regulations.”
Based on these, the committee dismissed his appeal. It is unclear when the appeal at CAS will be filed, but sources say “soon.”
The last elections of the FA saw Wilfred Osei Kwaku Palmer head to CAS after he was also disqualified by the Elections Committee.
CAS upheld the decision of committee.
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