Former Ghana Football Association (GFA) Vice President Fred Pappoe has confirmed that he will not run for GFA president in 2023.
Pappoe, who contested and failed to win the top position in 2019, said that he lacks the energy to run again, ruling himself out of the race for next year.
“No, I won’t contest. I don’t have the energy,” Pappoe said to Joy Sports.
In 2019, Pappoe received only six votes out of a total of 124 and withdrew from the competition after the first round. Kurt Okraku eventually triumphed over his close competitor George Afriyie.
“Delegates know what they vote and what they vote for. I could have even gotten less [than six votes in the 2019 elections],” he revealed.
“Of course, I must respect delegates, I must respect their views, I must respect their choices but what we should understand is that you cannot force somebody to choose and prioritise his parameters,"
“Maybe, he will look at something more than what you expect him to look at. He may not necessarily look at track record; there are a whole lot of parameters people look out for,”
According to him delegates do not look at the ideas the candidate has but are rather interested in financial rewards.
“I think all elections in Ghana are monetised, sadly. You can hardly think of any elections in Ghana that are not monetised,"
“I am sure even in churches. All elections are monetised in one way or the other or materialised. If they don’t give you money, there might be some material exchange or some expectation of material or financial after or in case your candidacy succeeds,”
“The financial, there were way too many people who came up with all manner of gifts and support for my campaign so the financing was not a problem,"
“So it was not the matter of me not having money, it’s a matter of me deciding to spend my money that way,”
“I could have used the money to do that [influence delegates to vote for me], but I didn’t see any reason to spend my money on anybody,”
Pappoe indicated that he has no regrets after his failed run for GFA, jokingly adding that all the pressure is now on the current GFA boss Kurt Okraku.
“I have no regrets that I got six votes at all,” he says.” I am a freer person now, but my junior brother and good friend, Kurt [Okraku] is carrying the pressure,”