Dr Kwame Baah-Nuakoh, Chairman of the Ghana Football Association (GFA) Club Licensing Committee, has argued that the government cannot expect to influence decisions within the GFA without taking greater responsibility for investing in the country’s football clubs.
Speaking to Sporty FM, Baah-Nuakoh explained that the structure of GFA elections gives club officials significant influence because they make up the majority of voters.
“I had always said that he who pays the piper calls the tune. If you don’t invest anything in the game, don’t expect to have power or control,” he said.
According to Baah-Nuakoh, club officials are likely to make decisions based on the interests and realities of the clubs they represent, making it difficult for government to dictate how they should vote when it does not directly fund or control their operations.
“The majority of the people who do the voting are club officials. Right. It’s tilted towards club,” he added.
He argued that government would need to invest more directly in clubs and the domestic game if it wants to have greater influence over football governance.
“So if the government doesn’t have a say in what happens to clubs, how they are invested, what kind of investment is made, how the local game is run, and that individuals have to go and look for just their own money to come and run their clubs,” he said.
Baah-Nuakoh’s comments come amid renewed calls from some stakeholders for changes to the administration of Ghana football, including demands for the GFA to be dissolved following the Black Stars’ poor start to the 2027 Africa Cup of Nations qualifiers. The debate has also brought renewed attention to the limits of government intervention in the affairs of the GFA and the independence expected of football associations.