Speaker of Parliament Alban Bagbin believes Ghana football was brought to its knees by the contentious documentary that resulted in Kwesi Nyantakyi’s ban from football.
Nyantakyi was handed a lifetime ban by FIFA but it was later reduced to 15 years by the Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS) following an appeal by the former Ghana Football Association president.
The former FIFA Executive Council member was also fined CHF 500,000 for breaches of Fifa’s ethics code.
He was found guilty of breaking Fifa rules relating to conflicts of interest, bribery and corruption and commission after an investigation by the Ethics Committee of world football’s governing body.
This was after Ghanaian investigative journalist Anas Aremeyaw Anas released a documentary titled Number 12, in which Nyantakyi was captured accepting a $65,000 bribe.
“When we were able to bring down Kwesi Nyantakyi, we also brought down Ghana football,” Bagbin said adding that “That’s one of the brightest spots at FIFA.”
“When I met the Executives of FIFA and said I was the Speaker of the Parliament of Ghana, they said what happened? Why did you people do that?
“He was a dynamic addition. The value that he carried at their meetings. He was highly respected, he was very influential and Ghana football was up there.We thought we were handling Nyantakyi but we didn’t know we were handling the whole of Ghana.”
According to Mr Bagbin, there are calls for the government to bring back Nyantakyi.
“People are calling for government to forgive Nyantakyi and bring him back Nyantakyi to assist,” he revealed.
He credited Ghana’s recent success of qualifying for the 2022 FIFA World Cup at the expense of Nigeria to Otto Addo’s technical team and the players’ fighting spirit.
“We were able to perform the wonders in Nigeria because of the new technical team that we put in place,” he said.
“We were able to gather potential young players of the future and they were prepared to die for Ghana.”
“If we keep this team for some time, I assure you it’s not just the FIFA games (World Cup) we are going to play, Ghana will be up there again.”
Over the weekend, the Speaker donated footballs, football boots, and a set of jerseys to WA-based Real Crusaders Ladies FC.
By Enoch Fiifi Forson|3news.com|Ghana