Leo Myles-Mills Endorses Dodoo for GAA Presidency

100m Record Holder, Leo Myles-Mills has endorsed Prof. Francis Dodoo’s bid for the Ghana Athletics Association’s Presidency.

The Prof. Dodoo led GAA has staged a total of 16 competitions from 2009 to 2014 compared to approximately 6 competitions under his rival George Lutterodt, one-time GAA Chairman from 2001 to 20004.

The incumbent GAA President is credited with reviving the fortunes of athletics in the country after introducing an international dimension to athletics locally, twice staging the prestigious rLG Ghana Grand Prix in 2011 and 2012.

The GAA recorded the highest number of athletics competitions in a single year in recent times, after introducing the lucrative 4-stage Sea and Shore Athletics Circuit Championship which took place in Wa, Sekondi-Takoradi, Koforidua and Kumasi, and the National Open Championships(4 editions). Having experienced Lutterodt’s reign as an athlete and Francis’s administration as a coach, Leo Myles-Mills has no doubt that Dodoo is a better candidate for the job. “It’s too bad I cannot vote but if I have to vote, I will choose Francis. Go back and look at Mr. Lutterodt’s time when he was chairman, how many local competitions were organised in the country and compare that to Francis’s era on the seat,” says Leo.

He quipped, “Ask yourself how many? Since Mobil pulled out, there have been no competitions nationwide where you invite outsiders to compete. It’s has always been among ourselves. But here we’re he has been able to organise two Grand Prix’s where we brought other international athletes. Francis knows how to organize these competitions”

Despite attempts by George Lutterodt to distance himself from a visa racketeering scandal that broke before Team Ghana’s participation in the 2002 Commonwealth Games, Leo Myles-Mills said visa racketeering has been with the GAA for a while.

“I heard something like that. I don’t have any proof but I remember when those athletes went to Edmonton. Aziz went there, Nkansah, I’m not sure, Kenneth Andam was there and they said the list that they had seen from the head coach had my name, Andrew Owusu, Christian Nsiah and a whole bunch of athletes.

“Yet none of us were there. According to him, from talking to other people he came to realise that some people were put in there so they can secure visas for them. I wasn’t there. I did not see anything. From what I heard, that is what happened. I don’t know who did it. Whether Lutterodt or the then Chief Coach, I cannot put my foot on it and say anything.

“As far as I know, this visa racketeering has been going on for ages. They take one athlete, add names of others people. They take one athlete and add other people,” he summed up.