I have this sneaky feeling that some sports loving people are perhaps unconsciously, trying to toy with Ghana’s international reputation as a strong sporting nation and by extension a democratic country that respects the rule of law.

The world’s two most powerful sports authorities; FIFA and the IOC have stringent rules and regulations that bind all nations on the planet. It is therefore strange that certain people in my part of the world would want to act in a manner that would make Ghana a laughing stock among the comity of sporting nations worldwide. Let me refer here to the subtle manner by which a division one football club, Medeama from the Western region that had failed to gain promotion into the Premier division, quickly bought a Premier club Kessben ,renamed it Medeama and readied itself to compete in the Premiership in the upcoming season. This is unheard of.

FIFA Regulations on promotion and relegations clearly state that “a club’s entitlement to take part in a domestic league championship shall depend principally on sporting merit. A club shall qualify for a domestic league championship by remaining in a certain division or by being promoted or relegated to another at the end of a season”

In simple language, a club could only attain a particular status through competition rather than sale or purchase of some other team’s slot. Thankfully, the Ghana Football Association has invoked the relevant clause and as far as the FA is concerned Kessben and not Medeama is the bona fide Premier club for the upcoming season that opens this weekend.

It is obvious that the business transaction between Kwabena Kesse of Kessben and Moses Armah of Medeama did not consider the rules governing football as a sport.  As things stand now, Medeama will take part in the league as Kessben. The FA has been flexible enough to allow them to use Sekondi as the home venue instead of Abramkese in Ashanti. The next few months will see how the two clubs will sort themselves out as far as the business transaction goes.

It is good for the game that wealthy businessmen are getting involved in football but it would be appreciated if they learn to play the game according to the rules. As things stand now, an unnecessary messy situation has been created just as we have in the Ghana Olympic Committee (GOC).  The revered Olympic Committee incredibly has two sets of officials, one faction recognized by the International Olympic Committee (IOC) and the other government sponsored.  Former Prisons Officer B.T.Baba heads the original GOC and former national athlete Dr Francis Dodoo is leader of the government faction.

The factions came about following elections to elect a new GOC which the incumbent Baba administration failed to recognize. According to him, the procedure for the polls was flawed and the IOC was duly informed. From all indications, the IOC still recognises the Baba administration and this has led to a clumsy situation where GOC correspondences are mishandled since there is a break in communication between the National Sports Council and the Francis Dodoo GOC and the Baba GOC on the other side.

This is real clumsy situation and Ghana may miss the upcoming Commonwealth Games in India since there is a power struggle as to who should handle the accreditation for the contingent. This same power struggle has led to Ghana’s inability to decide whether to attend the 2011 Africa Games in Mozambique. This is not funny.

If you ask me, I would say that in the national interest, the Baba faction should give in. In my considered opinion, the former Prisons officer has succeeded to establish the point that political interference does not pay in the administration of sports. He has actually upheld the Olympic charter that says that the GOC should see to “the healthy development of sports in Ghana, free from political, religious, racial and commercial interference”. He has been part of the Olympic family since the 1988 Seoul Olympics when I was the press attaché to the Ghana contingent, I am sure in the spirit of Olympism he would offer the olive  branch to stop the mess that is seriously threatening to give Ghana  a bad image  in international sporting circles.

It is said that when two elephants fight, it is the soil that suffers. In this case, the sports practitioners will toil in vain if this power struggle is allowed to continue.

Cheers everybody and keep loving sports.