The Ghana Football Association (GFA) normalisation process hit another level on Friday with the election of 10 chairpersons for the regional football associations.
With this hurdle cleared, what remains to complete the process is the election of the GFA president from a list of six candidates for the October 25 poll.
From the sidelines of the tough contests around the country in the regional associations, the elections appear to foretell the fortunes of the presidential candidates.
The camp of Nana Yaw Amponsah, Founder and President of Division One side Phar Rangers, told graphiconline.com that they were delighted with the results.
“We have support from at least 60 per cent of those who won in the regions. That puts us in good stead for the main election,” Kobby Jones, spokesman for Nana Amponsah, told Graphiconline.
Nana Amponsah is considered a dark horse, given his modest background relative to the majority of candidates he has set out to challenge.
Indeed, the likes of former vice presidents of the GFA at different eras, Fred Pappoe and George Afriyie, and Dream FC’s chief executive, Kurt E.S. Okraku, are considered the front runners, even though Nana Amponsah had far earlier submitted a proposal to reshape Ghana football during the chaotic period and declared his intention to stand for the top post so he could steer affairs directly.
The businessman, who also has the academic strength to back his ambition, is the architect of a foreign kit sponsorship deal that has benefitted nearly half of clubs in the Premier League.
“We have the ideas to transform Ghana football to the level that excited Ghanaians in the past,” Kobby Jones said.
But on October 25, his candidate will also have to overcome competition from Amanda Akuokor Clinton and George Ankomah Mensah, two of the less known names in Ghana football.
Meanwhile, five out of the six candidates have confirmed their participation in a debate put together by the Ghana Football Association, Global Media Alliance and the Ghana Broadcasting Corporation to be held on Monday, October 21.
Full list of elected RFA Chairmen;
Samuel Aboabire — Greater Accra Region Linford Asamoah — Eastern Region Daniel Agbogah — Volta Region Robert Duncan — Central Region Simon Ehomah — Western Regions Paris Osei Tutu Agyemang — Ashanti Region Ralph Gyambra — Brong Ahafo Region Alhaji Abu Alhassan — Northern Region Salifu Zida — Upper East Region Yahaya Sadugu — Upper West Region
Source: graphiconline.com