Ghana FA dares sports minister

The Ghana Football Association (GFA) has brushed aside the country's new sports minister, warning him that any attempt to reconstitute the various committees within the federation will not be tolerated.

Minister Mohammed Muntaka Mubarak recently met the top hierarchy of the GFA to demand the inclusion of government representatives on the committees, a Ghanasoccernet investigation has revealed.

This was confirmed by the government's sports transitional team report which demanded the inclusion of government experts within the GFA, contrary to Fifa laws prohibiting government interference in the sport.

But in a latest blow to his fast waning authority, the GFA has brushed aside Mubarak's demands insisting that the football governing body is the only body that can appoint members to its committee.

"We wish to remind the public that the power and authority to appoint, review, and dissolve its committees rests exclusively with the Ghana Football Association, and for that matter no individual, group of individuals, or institution can purport to exercise such a right," the GFA said in a statement.

"Membership of these committees has been based solely on merit and has no bearing whatsoever on an individual's gender, creed, political affiliation, or ethnicity.

"As per the spirit of FIFA's Statutes and those of the GFA, footballing consideration has always guided the selection of members to offer their services as volunteers on these committees.

"It is therefore erroneous for any individual or agency to purport to exercise such a right and we therefore urge the general public to disregard the news item and treat it with the contempt it deserves."

The statement by the GFA is a severe blow to the authority of Mubarak just two weeks after Ghana midfielder Sulley Muntari publicly and angrily dared him to reduce the bonuses of the Black Stars.

The minister has been threading a dangerous path since he was confirmed by President John Evans Atta Mills but Mubarak's forays into matters of football administration has only confirmed him as a greenhorn in the sport.

The latest development is set to ignite tensions within the administration of football in Ghana, with the GFA aware that it has Fifa's backing on the issue.

Kwadwo Twum-Boafo, Tony Baffoe, Jones Alhassan-Abu and Kobina Andoh were speculated to be in line to join the Black Stars management committee.