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When I watch the current pantomime about the Anas video, I ask myself have we not we been there before? Are we so forgetful?
When I took over as PNDC Secretary for Youth and Sports, I knew little about sports.
More than that I was more interested in the youth section until our decision to take part in the 1982 Africa Cup of nations in Tripoli, Libya.
As part of our preparations, even though late, I visited the Sports Stadium to see what we had in terms of facilities and sports kit.
I was confronted with shock and horror, as the officials of the Sports Council had looted the stores of every single sports item.
I could not count 10 footballs. As for jerseys and track suit, there was none.
When I asked the officials for an explanation, all I got were shuffling feet and looks of embarrassment.
I was soon to discover that gate fees for matches at the Accra sports Stadium went to private bank Accounts. To put it mildly, these were shared each Monday after the football matches on Sunday.
The Sports Councils bank Account was completely depleted.
In terms of relationships, the then powerful Sports Writers Association was at war with the Ministry and the Sports Council over issues of corruption and lack of accountability.
When I started asking questions, I was basically advised by my colleagues in Government (the PNDC) to leave it alone.
In spite of these weaknesses, there were constant demands for cash (dollars) to travel outside the country for games.
These were mostly for sports like Football, Cricket, Golf and Basketball. Football topped the list.
It became obvious that some of these were nothing short of scams since they never presented written reports of previous games, and how Ghana fared.
As a result, I started turning down most of these fictitious and fraudulent requests.
In the case of football, I started reducing the number of officials accompanying the Black Stars.
As for the golf and cricket, I simply asked them not to bring request for travel money which included items like winter clothing for games in African countries.
That was just the beginning of the fight against the cartels in the Sports sector.
At a meeting with the heads of the National Sports Council, I asked the officials to bring me a written proposal on how to end the misuse of resources and make the Sports Council self-sufficient.
This did not go down well.
No paper was ever written.
Sports administrators were used to spending money not thinking how to generate it.
The term “create, loot and share” had not been invented then.
With the help of some friends from the Ghana Sports Writers Association I tackled the corruption in the Ghana Football Association.
The GFA then operated without any form of control, a law unto themselves, and had been used to that for years on end.
Making it a competent body by changing its composition was necessary, so I fired all of them one afternoon out of frustration with help from the Ghana Sport Writers Association replaced it with the late Zack Bentum led Ghana Football Association.
Following this, I received a number of complaints from former GFA members from the Castle, then seat of the PNDC, to the Confederation of Africa Football.
The pressure was enormous, but I had been advised that Ghana could not take part in the Africa Cup competition with the GFA as it was constituted.
I also set up the Dua Adonteng Committee to investigate allegations of corruption, misuse of sports facilities, ghost names and the like.
His report was dynamite, but the PNDC administration under the late P V Obeng refused to accept it.
I also reconstituted the Board of the National Sports Council and appointed Prof. Mills (later to become President) as Chairman of the Board.
These two appointments (Professor Mills and the late Zack Bentum) were the only and brought sanity to the Sports Ministry and Sports administration for a while.
On several occasions, people, complete strangers appeared in my office to offer me big envelopes, for what they never said.
I turned down these offers.
Looking back with hindsight, it is obvious to me now that I was being set up for disgrace.
I turned down these envelopes.
Sports administration in Ghana is owned and controlled by a cartel of sports administrators, chiefs, public servants, heads of the powerful clubs, politicians and their cohorts.
At every point in time they control how money is made and how it is distributed.
Some use sports for smuggling banned substances while others use it for visas and so on.
In my case, these cartels in Sports fought back like wounded lions.
This time they found common purpose with some elements close to the PNDC.
I hasten to add that none of my colleagues in cabinet were part of this.
Anytime I rejected a spurious travel request or questioned a procurement, they would go to the Castle and get it approved behind my back.
It got to a point where I was not receiving requests for travel even though I was aware that these were going on.
I got to know the name of the person approving these requests.
The corrupt cartel was now located within the Castle, seat of government.
On one occasion, I was confronted with a strange verbal request from the Castle by a white woman (whom I did not even know) to approve several thousands of dollars to enable a Club to buy horses from an Arab country for the Accra Polo Club.
When I said the nation’s, resources could not support such as request, the lady making the request retorted to my horror: “this request has been approved by Jerry”, to which I responded, then “why do you need my signature then”?
Such requests were common.
That was a warning that the cartel had found its way to the Castle, seat of the PNDC administration, and were frustrating every effort at bringing sanity and reducing the spate of corruption.
Even more alarming was the fact that some members of the cartel were now using their closeness to the Chairman of the PNDC, people with no recognisable appointments, but quite powerful (names withheld) at the time.
I realised that I was losing the fight against corruption in sports.
Even if the events that led to my resignation as Secretary for Youth and Sports had not happened, I doubt if I would have remained in the position.
Corruption in sports goes a long way. It can only be reduced by structural transformation of society, and by a government willing to take the bull by the horns. Nothing else. We can redeem Ghana sports.
By Zaya Yeebo, Former PNDC Secretary for Sports
