Former Youth and Sports Minister Hon. Abdul-Rashid Pelpuo has advised incoming Sports Minister under newly elected president Nana Akufo Addo’s administration to cooperate with the Ghana Football Association (GFA) as it is the best way to develop the Sport.
Pelpuo appears not be impressed with Outgoing Minister Nii Lante Vanderpuye who has had a very rocky relationship with the Football Assocaition which has contributed to the national teams decline.
According to Pelpuo whoever is given the nod must desist from engaging in unnecessary conflict with the GFA.
“I will tell the minister to work with the GFA, cooperate with them. It is the way to develop Ghana football and it is the way to get the Black Stars and the smaller teams to go far. It doesn’t pay when you have a conflict with them and you begin to fighting them as if the GFA is an extension of the government. It is an elected and not part of government,” he told Hassan Hussein last Wednesday.
“We should get the GFA to work under the umbrella of Ghana’s policy on football; but that should not change the character of the GFA. If you try to change the character, if you try to influence their elections, if you want to fight people who are already in office, it will mar the situation and not auger well for Ghana football. Once you run contrary to them, you introduce divisions, you introduce contradictions and it goes to affect the national teams in general,” the MP explained.
It is still unclear who the new president elect will appoint as Ghana’s Sports Minister.