Veteran Sports Journalist Ebo Quansah has declared that FIFA President Joseph Sepp Blatter would not be the right man to lead the World soccer governing body if it is revealed that he indeed approved of the claim by Government to investigate the Ghana Football Association (GFA).
“If really it comes out that FIFA told the Government to investigate the GFA, then he (Blatter) is not fit to lead world football,” the veteran journalist voiced out at a press briefing in Accra on Wednesday.
Quansah, who addressed the press to substantiate his motive for sending a letter to FIFA themed ‘political interference in the administration of football in Ghana’, insists FIFA will give no such direction to anybody when it frowns on Government interference in the administration of the game.
He said aides to President John Evans Atta Mills claim that FIFA nodded their request to investigate the GFA during the President’s trip to Switzerland last month, when he conferred on the FIFA boss.
Ebo Quansah, who is also the immediate past President of the Sports Writers Association of Ghana (SWAG), said the motive behind his letter to FIFA was for the latter to come out on the details of the meeting with President Mills after the GFA was hauled to the Serious Fraud Office (SFO) few days on arrival of the President.
“I want FIFA to clarify if they really told President Mills to investigate the GFA,” he stated.
Despite the GFA disassociating itself from the said letter, Quansah noted that the fact that no individual has come out to dispute the contents of his correspondence to the world soccer body, is enough for him to believe that the details “could represent the truth”.
Describing himself as a ‘Crusading Journalist’, Quansah dismissed reports of being politically motivated on his action, insisting that it is in the supreme interest of Ghana football.
Aligning his sustenance to his reportage of sports, Ebo said he is prepared to take on anyone whose actions tend to bring the game into disrepute, saying “It is not a political vendetta and anybody that brings sports into disrepute, I will take him on.”
Following the Black Stars performance at the South Africa 2010 World Cup, the veteran journalist said he was goaded by expectations of the 2014 World Cup to raise the ‘red flag’ with references to Cameroon and Senegal, who both reached the quarters at the 1999 and 2002 editions but flopped afterwards.
Quansah also challenged the GFA to wean itself of state sponsorship since it is the basis on which Government is motivated to sometimes interfere in the administration of the game.
He also advised the GFA to consider appointing a media liaison officer to answer queries as well inculcate transparency in their financial dealings.
Source: GNA
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