GFA Elections: Osei Palmer files appeal, stay of execution to fight disqualification

The 2019 GFA elections may not come on as scheduled as Wilfred Kwaku Osei Palmer has filed an appeal at the FA and FIFA and proceeded to also file a stay of execution on the FA election.

The appeal which was filed today is in conformity with a window of opportunity granted the candidate to seek redress after he was disqualified from contesting in this month’s FA Presidential election.

Ghanaweb.com sources reveal that Palmer and his legal team filed the documents this afternoon with optimism that the initial decision will be reversed.

How did we get here?

The Normalization Committee on Friday, October 4, announced that the Tema Youth Chief has been disqualified from the presidential race.

Palmer’s team in a quick reaction, declared their intentions of appealing the decision and Ghanaweb can confirm that the NC and FIFA have been duly served. If the application of stay of execution is granted, the GFA elections will not be held until finality is brought to the case.

Why was Palmer disqualified

Palmer was found culpable of breaching Article 33(5) (c) as well as getting on the wrong side of GFA ethical committee ruling in 2017.

What does article 33(5) C say

Ten percent of all training and transfer fees in respect of external transfers shall be paid into football development fund as follows:

i. Five percent shall be paid to the GFA

ii. Five percent shall be paid to GHALCA. Where the player involved is juvenile, GHALCA’s five percent shall be paid to the National.

Application of the law in the case of Palmer and Tema Youth

In 2018, Tema Youth Football Club sold its winger Joseph Paintsil to Belgian side Genk for an undisclosed fee.

Per the article stated above, Tema Youth were required to pay 10 percent of the transfer fee to the GFA but the club reportedly refused to make the substantive payment.

Palmer’s team explain why they refuse to pay the ten percent

According to the camp of Palmer, they did no wrong by refusing to make that obligatory payment.

They argue that when Joseph Paintsil made his loan move to Ferencvaros, Tema Youth applied for an International Transfer Certificate (ITC) at the GFA which was not granted.

This is because the processes of the transfer was truncated halfway after the GFA stopped responding to the TMS (FIFA Transfer Matching System).

Our sources claim after two weeks of no response from the association, FIFA granted the player a provisional ITC that allowed him to play for the Hungarian club with the hope that Tema Youth and FA will be able to resolve their issues for the issuance of a permanent ITC.

But thirty days elapsed and there was no communication from the GFA regarding the status of issuing the ITC and as an organization who prioritizes players’ interest, FIFA turned the temporal certificate into a permanent one.

The argument being advanced by Palmer’s team is that since the ITC did not come from the GFA, they were not obliged to pay a dime to the FA for the permanent transfer of Joseph Paintsil to Genk in 2018.

Also, assuming without admitting that Tema Youth owe the GFA an amount of money, Palmer as a private person should not be punished for the sins of Tema Youth which is a distinct entity from Palmer. According to the laws of FIFA and the GFA, the failure of a team to pay the 10 per cent transfer fee should at best warrant a forfeiture of points and not a disqualification of the owner of the club.

Defence to Ethics Committee Ruling

Palmer’s camp have said that he should be allowed to stand the elections because his offence was not criminal. Secondly, Palmer’s camp say the Ethical Committee of the FA has already passed judgment on the said matter and only asked him to apologies.

They add that the offence committed by Palmer does not fall in the category of FIFA rules which when breached stops one from vying for the presidency of any federation.

They are therefore confident that the initial decision will be overturned and Palmer will have his name on the ballot paper.

Political Undertones

There is a feeling in the camp of Osei Palmer that he is been unfairly treated because of the perception that he is a member of the opposition National Democratic Congress (NDC). Palmer’s camp say the disqualified aspirant is not a card bearing member of any political party, has not contested any political office or campaigned for any party ever in his life.

They tell Ghanaweb.com that any association of Palmer and a political party is only a figment of someone’s imagination.

Nyantakyi’s boy tag

Is Palmer Nyantakyi’s boy? His close friends say he is not and is actually the one who on many occasions stood up to Kwesi Nyantakyi during his 13 year reign as FA Boss.

However, the tag would just not go away. Recently there was news that Nyantakyi’s was campaigning for Palmer but his camp vehemently denied it.

There is a perception that a vote of Palmer is perhaps a vote for Nyantakyi.