On Thursday, April 23, 2020, the president of Tema Youth FC, Wilfred Osei Kweku Palmer, spoke to the media for the first since last year September.
The former Executive Committee member of the Ghana Football Association (GFA) was disqualified from contesting the FA presidency in October 2019.
Mr Palmer’s disqualification was based on failing to honor the regulations of the country’s football governing body.
The former financial secretary of the Ghana FA was accused of failing to pay the 10% mandatory fee to the GFA following the transfer of his player, Joseph Paintsil, to Hungarian side Ferencvárosi TC.
Mr Palmer is currently challenging the Normalisation Committee’s decision at the Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS).
Adomonline.com chronicles five key points of Mr Palmer’s interview on Asempa FM:
- 1. Nothing has changed
Half a year into Kurt Okraku’s four-year mandate, Mr Palmer says nothing has changed in Ghana football since the new administration took over.
He said the administration has done little or nothing to change the fortunes of football in the country. His expectations of more reforms taking place have not been met by the Kurt Okraku-led administration.
The former Dreams FC Executive Chairman was expected to bring quick change into the game as he pledged in his manifesto.
“I must say it has been quite unfortunate but, to put it bluntly, nothing has changed [under Kurt Okraku’s administration]. We wish for more reforms to take place,” he said.
- 2. Awarding GPL Broadcast deal to StarTimes
After abrogating the existing deal that was signed before the exit of Kwesi Nyantayi as GFA president, the Kurt Okraku administration opened bid for the broadcast rights of the Ghana Premier League.
Despite stiff competition from Ghana Broadcasting Corporation, the FA announced that the Chinese television network had emerged as the winner to broadcast the Ghana Premier League for the next five years.
StarTimes signed a five-year agreement with the GFA worth $5.25m to be the exclusive Television Rights owner of the Ghana Premier League and the FA Cup.
However, the Tema Youth chief avers that separate deals could have been struck with all interested television stations for each of them to show a specific number of games. The FA was wrong to go with StarTimes alone, Mr Palmer said.
- 3. Still harboring GFA presidential ambitions
Mr Palmer, who was tipped by many to succeed Mr Kwesi Nyantakyi as the new GFA president, was mysteriously disqualified from the race.
He was indicted for failing to pay a mandatory 10 per cent to the coffers of the FA. Despite challenging the decision at CAS, Mr Palmer reiterated that he would be unfair to Mr Okraku should he confirm his interest in the position.
However, he did not rule out contesting for the position in the future.
“I am not thinking about it now [being the FA president]. The rank-and-file came to me previously to tell me that I have the qualities to become the president so if they tell me to stand again, I will do it,” he said.
“Another thing is, Kurt Okraku is already in the running. If I announce that I want to be FA President, it will put pressure on him.
“The disqualification was far from fair that is why the case is at CAS. I sold a player outside the jurisdiction of Ghana. Joseph Paintsil was never a registered player under the jurisdiction of Ghana. He was never registered under Tema Youth. I had economic rights over him,” he said.
He also revealed paying $49,000 for the case to heard by CAS.
- 4. Demanding for stimulus package from government
Currently, all public gatherings, including sports events, have been banned as part of measures to curb the spread of covid-19.
The GFA has also suspended all its competitions until further notice.
With the suspension, clubs are finding it difficult to meet their financial obligations.
The GFA, led by President Okraku, in its bid to support the clubs has approached the government to secure a slice of the fund.
However, Mr Palmer described the decision by GFA as surprising.
According to him, if he was in charge of GFA, he would have taken a different approach like asking the government to reduce the 17.5% gate proceeds tax the clubs pay.
Mr Palmer advanced that instead of financial demands, the FA should consult all stakeholders in the industry and present a policy document to the government.
- 5. Decison to start 2019/20 football season
Football came to a halt following the airing of the ‘Number 12’ video by investigative journalist, Anas Aremeyaw Anas that exposed rot in football in the country.
However, football came back with no headline sponsor.
According to Mr Palmer, the FA’s decision to commence the league despite being ill-prepared and lacking the funds to take care of the needs of the 18 clubs, was bad.
He reiterated that the FA should have delayed the start of the season and ensure that clubs that were coming out of the financial difficulties associated with ‘Number 12’ had enough funds to last the entire season.
He suggested the FA should have held talks with Chief Executive Officers of corporations and explain to them the importance of the league to their brand.