Ghanaian lawyer, Nii Adamah Sackey, Esq, has hinted that the 5-year ban handed to shareholders and directors of Phar Rangers Football Club may not necessarily apply to the Chief Executive Officer of Kotoko, Nana Yaw Amponsah who also doubles as director of the Phar Rangers Club.
According to him, until the Disciplinary Committee is able to prove that shareholders of the club took footballing decisions that resulted in the club being defunct, the shareholders cannot be punished.
On the Happy Sports Show with Ohene Brenya Bampoe, he explained: “The fundamental thing is that if the shareholders have not committed any act and you yourself find and assert that they have not committed any act, how then do you punish them? What is the basis for punishing shareholders?
If you are a shareholder, you are not necessarily an official of the club because an official is involved with the day to day running of the club. The directing minds of the clubs are the directors and employees and officers of the club. Shareholders are not part of the day to day running of the club so unless you can prove to me that shareholders took a decision to make a club defunct you cannot punish the shareholder”.
Lawyer Nii Adamah Sackey added that the Disciplinary Committee seem to be contradicting itself when it states that “We daresay that after considering the full contents of the Statement of Defence of Phar Rangers FC carefully, this Committee finds no trace whatsoever of the Board Resolution or any statement on the defunct position of the club. The club rather used words to the effect that in the mind of the club, the club had already withdrawn but wishes to change their mind by rescinding the withdrawn position because of the effect on other clubs and the league”.
Division One league side Phar Rangers have been handed a five-year ban from all Ghana Football Association (GFA) associated competitions.
The FA also announced that aside from the five-year imposed on the club, all of its shareholders and directors have also been banned from all football-related activities for the same period.
On June 7, 2021, Phar Rangers announced that they were pulling out of all competitions organized by the Ghana Football Association (GFA).
The GFA on the same day activated the appropriate provisions in its rules and regulations relating to the matter.
24 hours later, the GFA Prosecutor drafted a charge sheet in relation to the withdrawal from all competitions by Phar Rangers FC and emailed it to the Secretary of the Disciplinary Committee which was served on the club the next day.
Phar Rangers was charged with two counts; Withdrawing from all GFA competitions without just cause after the 2020/21 Division League had started and withdrawing from all GFA’s competitions whilst failing to give satisfactory reason for the withdrawal from the 2021 FA Cup competition.
By: Alberta Dorcas N D Armah
