The Ghana Football Association Appeals Committee has disqualified Mr. Gambila Dagbila Boison from contesting for the position of Chairman of the Upper East Regional Football Association.

The UERFA 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. EMMANUEL OWUSU ANSAH - MEMBER 3. CLAUDE OPPON - MEMBER 4. DIVINE SUNU - MEMBER 5. KWAME TAKYI - MEMBER 6. DANIEL ODURO - SECRETARY

Both Messrs Gambila Dagbila Boison and Salifu Shaibu Zida filed to contest for the position of the chairperson of the Upper East Regional Football Association. Both of them were vetted and cleared to contest, however, Mr. Salifu Shaibu Zida, the appellant herein was dissatisfied with the decision of the Elections Committee clearing Mr. Boison and therefore filed this appeal. His grounds are many including;

1. Mighty Rocks FC proposing and at the same time endorsing or supporting him 2. Three clubs that endorsed his candidature are non-existing one 3. A Third Division Club endorsed his candidature 4. One Agong K. Amaboro endorsed both of them but later he withdrew his endorsement for Mr. Boison. 5. Catholic Stars also withdrew their support for Mr. Boison after endorsing for both of them. 6. Pwalugu United also did same and Japan FC also withdrew their support.

According to the appellant, the Election Committee overlooked all these defects and went to clear Mr. Boison. He indicated that he expected the Election Committee to contact the RFA for verification of all the allegations raised by him.

Mr. Boison in his response to the appeal indicated among others that:

a) There is absolutely nothing wrong with Mighty Rocks FC proposing/nominating him and at the same time supporting him. He referred to article 6(a), page 93 of the GFA Regulations dated 2013. According to him by that article a club can propose and also nominate.

b) That Milan FC of Bawku is the only 3rd division club in the region and therefore there is nothing wrong with the club endorsing his candidature since the club is under no sanction.

c) That it is not true that Hassan Babies, Nankana Union Stars and Toende United are non-existing clubs because they took part in the 2014/15 league. According to him their names appeared in the league fixtures which were prepared by the appellant himself so it does not lie in the mouth of the appellant to say that those clubs are non-existing.

d) That all the clubs supported his candidature willingly and therefore to write to withdraw their support was an afterthought.

Finally, it is his case that the appeal is borne out of malice and fear because the appellant fears competition and wants to do anything to make him contest unopposed.

The Committee has considered both arguments thoroughly and is of the view that:

1. The combined effect of article 6(3) on Nomination and supporting of candidate and article 6(8) is that only a member of the FA can propose a candidate for the position of the Executive Committee and for that matter the chairperson of an RFA. Again, a member cannot nominate/propose or support/endorse more than one candidate. After a person has been proposed or nominated by a member of the FA, that person has to be supported or endorse by at least 10 members of the RFA in question (refer article 6(5)b of the Elections Regulations. It therefore follows that a member cannot propose or nominate a person and at the same time support the person. This committee views the nomination of Mr. Boison by Mighty Rocks FC and the same club supporting him as improper and unacceptable. Mr. Boison in his response turned to argue that there is nothing wrong with Mighty Rocks FC proposing at the same time nominating him. Indeed that is correct because proposing and nominating are the same and interchangeable. However, the issue here has to do with proposing and supporting which Mr. Boison does not appear to have any answer to it. The support for Mr. Boison by Mighty Rocks FC is therefore invalid.

2. That the old players association as per Sulley Bello Afagah endorsed for the appellant and the same old players this time per one Hamza Hashin also endorsed for Mr. Boison. The endorsement of the Old Players Association for both candidates is hereby nullified as contravening article 6(8). Real Builsa United as per Agong Amaboro endorsed for both candidates. The endorsement for both candidates is invalid. Again, Walewale Catholic Stars per Charles Akomiya endorsed Mr. Boison whilst the same Catholic Stars, this time per Alhassan Fataru supported the appellant. The endorsement or support of Catholic Stars for both candidates nullified. Pwalugu United as per Mark Koduah supported the appellant and the same Pwalugu United, this time per Asokerogane Ayimolga endorsed Mr. Boison. The endorsements of Pwalugu United for both candidates are invalid. Lastly, Japan Stars as per Abdul Razak Yidana supported the candidacy of Mr. Boison and the same Japan Stars per Dramani Awudu supported that of the appellant. The support/endorsement of Japan Stars for both candidates is hereby nullified.

Nullification and/or invalidity of the above endorsements has reduced the support for the candidacy of Mr. Gambila Dagbila Boison to seven, three short of the minimum requirement as per article 6 of the Elections Regulations.

As a result of the said nullification, the appellant also suffered a shortage of support reducing his endorsement from 23 to 18. Notwithstanding the said casualty the appellant still has well over the minimum requirement of 10 supporters.

In the circumstances, Mr. Gambila Dagbila Boison is ineligible to contest the position of Chairperson of the Upper East Regional Football Association in the upcoming elections.

We want to believe that the double endorsement of the Old Players Association and Pwalugu United were genuine oversight on the part of the Elections Committee and that might explained why they were not captured in the recommendation.