Ghana Premier League side Elmina Sharks are calling for “sanity” in Ghana football following comments made by its owner and president, Dr. Papa Kwesi Nduom, that there is widespread corruption in Ghana football.

The 2016 presidential candidate of the Progressive People’s Party (PPP), Dr Nduom made a scathing comment on his facebook page about Ghana Football with particular reference to the premier league.

In his facebook post after their week 29 premier league 2-1 away loss to runaway champions, Aduana Stars, Dr Nduom questioned the credibility of the Dormaa based side, adding the premier league is unclean for sponsors to invest.

“By the way, Aduana Stars are on top of the league and soon to be declared champions officially. Really? When is football not football? When administrators strategize to cheat. When referees take bribes to decide the outcome of matches, when losers on the field of play rely on “ways and means” off the field to win points, when fans believe they must make opposing side afraid to play, when players are given money to play against their own teams, etc. etc.

This is the football I have come to experience in this first year of our team, the Fearsome Elmina Sharks being in the Premier League. There are reasons why the Ghana Football League lacks sponsors. For me it is unexciting performance due to cheating referees, administrators and undisciplined fans,” part of Dr Nduom’s facebook post read.

Subsequent to this post, Elmina Sharks have reacted with resentment on commentaries in the local media on the subject that according to them is an attempt “to not only vilify but also besmirch the image of the club and its president”.

In a press statement signed by the General Manager of the club George Wiredu, it said the club was not happy with how football administrators have attacked the personality of Dr. Ndoum rather the comment.

“We are particularly worried for the fact that, there appears to be an attempt to shelve the important message the post carries but rather, resort to baseless equalization, accusations and counter-accusation.

“We expected the public to analyze and subject the issues and concerns raised to critical scrutiny in order to authenticate its validity or otherwise, but not to attack the person of Dr Papa Kwesi Nduom and the integrity of Elmina Sharks FC and take solace in cheap equalization.

“It is interesting to note that the two FA officials (Albert Commey, Executive Committee Member and Takyi Arhin, Division One League Board Member) who have reacted to the Facebook post by Dr. Nduom appear to confirm the claims made. None of them was able to deny any of the claims made but only tried to make nonsense of the comment by claiming Elmina Sharks FC has engaged in corrupt acts too.

“We are disappointed in the fact that, these officials of the FA, in their commentaries claim they knew Sharks had been engaging in corrupt acts yesteryears, yet, couldn’t take action nor raise any alarm, but only found their voices when the club President raised those critical issues.
It is obvious that they only sought to take shelter in the archaic propagandists’ tactics of ‘kill the messenger and ignore the message,” the release said.

The club however insist they support claims made by Dr Nduom that football in Ghana is filthy and hence are calling for a clean-up of Ghana football.

“We are by this release backing all the claims made by the President on his Facebook page. It is our belief that as a franchise, the Ghana Premier League is not sacrosanct to the happenings in world football, and as such a collective effort is needed in making it an enviable brand across the continent and the world.

“For this, we are not only resurrecting and standing by the claims he (Dr. Nduom) made but also tasking the various stakeholders to appreciate the ills in our game and to take frantic efforts to tackle them.

“As a club, we pledge our support towards any effort aimed at sanitizing the system and installing integrity in the game. We are of the view that to successfully fight the menace, all hands must be on deck and as such, there shouldn’t be an attempt to gag people or suppress the views of people, especially, when it aims at uncovering and addressing the ills in the industry.

“It is in this spirit that we pledge to cooperate and support all the relevant agencies that have the mandate to help rid the system of manipulation.” It stated.

We, therefore, call on all well-meaning Ghanaians to take interest and to also contribute their quota in any means possible to bring back sanity and to restore confidence in the industry.”