The GFA Appeals Committee has dismissed the Appeal against Abdulai Alhassan and has declared him qualified or eligible to contest the upcoming Northern Regional Football Association election.
The NRFA Chairmanship election has been scheduled for Friday October 2. Below is the full decision of the Appeals Committee:
PANELISTS
1. ALHAJI FAROUCK SEIDU - VICE CHAIRMAN 2. OWUSU ANSAH AWERE - MEMBER 3. CLAUDE OPPON - MEMBER 4. DIVINE SUNU - MEMBER 5. KWAME TAKYI - MEMBER 6. DANIEL ODURO - SECRETARY
This is an appeal by Alhaji Adam Munkaila Nassam filed on the 14th day of September, 2015 against the decision or recommendation of the Elections Committee of the Ghana Football Association dated 11th September, 2015.
The brief facts are that the appellant, Alhaji Adam Munkaila Nassam together with Alhaji Karim Mahama Sani and Abdulai Alhassan filed to contest for the position of the chairmanship of the Northern Regional Football Association. All of them were cleared by the Elections Committee to contest however, Alhaji Adam Munkaila Nassam being dissatisfied with the said recommendation or decision of the Elections Committee filed the instant appeal. His grounds are as follows:
1) All the twelve (12) clubs that endorsed Mr. ABDULAI ALHASSAN’S form did not do so properly because the people who signed the forms have no designations attached to their various clubs as required on the election form. The committee inserted that particular word ‘designation’ not for nothing and for that matter leaving it unfilled or doing so wrongly renders the form erroneously completed.
2) This also applied to all the eleven (11) clubs that endorsed for ALHAJI KARIM MAHAMA SANI’S form.
3) I therefore state that once the forms of the two (2) candidates are not properly endorsed, they should have been disqualified by the elections vetting committee of the Ghana Football Association for non-compliance with the mandatory requirements on the nomination forms.
4) For that of Karimu Mahama Sani the organization that endorsed for him is not known in the Statutes of the GFA.
5) It’s also the case that Mr. Abdulai Alhassan who is currently an active player in a division one club this season joined a second division in June 2015 for the purposes of using the Second Division Club to contest for the election of Chairmanship in the Northern Region. I therefore wish to draw the attention of the election committee to this abnormality, since he has not had the mandatory two (2) years association with the same Second Division Zone.
ALHAJI KARIM MAHAMA SANI
Alhaji Karim Mahama Sani in his response to the appeal stated that, originally the clubs that endorsed his candidature misunderstood the word “designation” and therefore instead of stating the position of the one who endorsed him on behalf of the club, e.g. Chairman, Secretary, etc., they rather stated where the club is based, however, when he noticed the error, he quickly did the necessary correction and brought same to the attention of the Elections Committee. Secondly, he claimed that there is nothing wrong with the Retired National Footballers Association proposing him because they are made up of both retired and active players of which he is a member. He therefore prayed the Committee to dismiss the appeal and allow him to contest the election.
The Committee has considered the grounds of appeal and the response by Alhaji Karim Mahama Sani and has come to the following conclusion.
a) The mandatory requirements which go to the root of a candidate’s eligibility to contest in an election for the position of a chairperson of a Regional Football Association and by virtue of his/her position as chairperson becomes an automatic member of the GFA Executive Committee are contained in the Elections Regulations as captured at pages 91 to 97 of the GFA Regulations.
b) Filling or completing a form where “designation” is mistaken to mean destination or where a club is based is not fatal to the eligibility of the candidate. c) This kind of mistake is not captured in the Elections Regulations that disqualifies a candidate.
d) Players as per article 10:2 of the GFA Statutes are also members of the FA who also have the right to nominate candidates for the presidency of the Association and for that matter chairperson of the regional association or executive committee members.
e) The only association made up of players and ex-players recognized by the FA is the Retired National Footballers Association and therefore in our view the association could nominate or propose a candidate. Alhaji Karim Mahama Sani was therefore rightly proposed or nominated by the Retired National Football Association.
f) It is also noticed that eleven (11) members supported the candidacy of Ahaji Karim Mahama Sani as required by the Elections Regulations however, West Mamprusi United supported his candidacy as well as that of Alhaji Adam Munkaila Nassam. Again, Soccer Boys of Nanumba supported the candidature of both Alhaji Karim Mahama Sani of the Alhaji Adam Munkaila Nassam, however, this Committee has no cogent reason to disturb the findings or commendation regarding the said support for both candidates. In the circumstances therefore this committee finds Alhaji Karim Mahama Sani qualified or eligible to contest the election for the position of the Northern Regional Football Association chairperson who automatically becomes a member of the GFA Executive Committee.
ABDULAI ALHASSAN
In the case of Abdulai Alhassan, the appeal is in respect of wrong filling or completing of the nomination form where “designation” of the officer of the club was misunderstood as where the club is based, however, the anomaly was corrected immediately it was detected. The explanation given by this committee in respect of Alhaji Karim Mahama Sani also goes for Abdulai Alhassan in toto and therefore time shall not be wasted to address the same issue again.
However, ground 5 of the Notice of Appeal concerns only Abdulai Alhassan which in short is that, he has not been associated with the club or member that proposed him for at least two (2) years which is a mandatory requirement. Article 6(1) of the Elections Regulations on qualification of candidate states: “A candidate for any of the positions specified in Article 5 (one of which is chairperson of a regional association) shall be a Director or other senior official who has been associated with the member for at least 2 years. The candidate must not be less than 21 years”. According to the appellant, Abdulai Alhassan is an active player in a division one club this season and joined a Division Two club in June 2015 purposely to use the club to contest the elections and therefore has not had the mandatory 2 years association with the club. According to him, he drew the attention of the Elections Committee to this abnormality yet he was cleared to contest.
The appellant attached to the appeal a photocopy of a DF2 form dated 23/10/13. Abdulai Alhassan’s passport photo is affixed on the form and his designation is Deputy Secretary/Treasurer.
Interestingly on the same form is a certain Abdul Rahman Anas whose designation is also deputy secretary. Abdulai Alhassan in his response insisted that he actually registered and played few matches for the said club but argued that no law bars a player from contesting the position.
He attached to his response a club registration form that was received at the RFA office on the 3/4/11 which shows clearly that he has been the CEO/CHAIRMAN of the club that proposed him (Al-Itifaq F/C) since 2011 and therefore qualifies to contest the election.
Having regard to the two documents presented to the committee, we invited the said Abdulai Alhassan to clarify the issues, unfortunately even though he honoured the invitation, the committee could not lay hands on the original documents from the FA and therefore his presence did not in any way help the committee.
In the circumstances we considered the documents in their photocopy state and wish to give the benefit of the doubt to the candidate. The appeal is therefore dismissed and the said ABDULAI ALHASSAN is hereby declared qualified or eligible to contest the election.