Kwabena Agyepong Refutes Allegations

Former Presidential spokesperson, Kwabena Agyei Agyepong has expressed disappointment over assertions that he was indicted by the Gbedegbe Commission on the transfer of players. Speaking to the media in Accra last week, Mr. Agyepong, one of New Patriotic Party (NPP) presidential aspirants, said as the then representative of Kumasi Asante Kotoko in Accra, he had to make sure there was a clear contract binding the Porcupine Warriors, the player, Robert Boateng, and his new club abroad.

He disclosed that after the transfer, everybody who happened to be involved benefited from the transaction. “The Gbedegbe Committee that came out did not implicate me; neither was I accused of any wrongdoing when I was representing the club. Moreover, football clubs in the country are private entities,” he stated.According to Agyepong, a civil engineer cum sports writer, he was told by the Commission to pay tax on the money he received and it is on record that he managed to settle this in 2001, two years after the commission had completed its work on transfer of players.

“My action was not considered to be a crime. The reason I was invited was to make sure that I paid the tax. A criminal would not be asked to pay tax,” he pointed out. It would be recalled that the transfer of players created controversies in the 1990s, sparkling off protests from the Ghanaian media.

This prompted the setting up of a five-man Commission of Inquiry to look into the issue of transfer of players to foreign clubs. After its investigations, the Commission asked Nana Butler, then GFA Chairman and the former Asante Kotoko chairman, George Aduse-Poku, to refund 350,000 US dollars to Kotoko in respect of Robert Boateng’s transfer, while Mr. Agyepong was asked to pay tax on the 26,000 US dollars he admitted to receiving for the services rendered to the club. The Commission added that those who failed to repay could have their properties seized and sold out. The Commission, led by Justice Sulley Gbedegbe began its investigations in July 1991, to probe the transfer of some Ghanaian players abroad.

Its report was published in May the same year, and it made stunning revelations implicating some senior officials of the then GFA and recommending penalties and solutions to problems of in the transfer business. Although the report was welcomed widely, many Ghanaians believed that recommendations of the Commission were not thoroughly implemented. On the White Paper, the Commission revealed then that over 150 Ghanaian players had been transferred abroad for big fees running into millions of US dollars, and these monies had not been correctly declared to clubs and the FA, robbing the country of legitimate income. Ghanaians regarded the Gbedegbe report as having taken a giant step in clearing up the mess left by scandals which contributed to the decline of the domestic league over the years.