Ghanaian sports journalist and commentator Jeffrey Asare has been implicated in the disqualification of George Afriyie from the upcoming Ghana Football Association (GFA) presidential election.
Asare allegedly falsified documents to endorse George Afriyie’s candidacy, leading to the decision by the GFA’s Vetting Committee to disqualify Afriyie. This revelation has sent shockwaves through the Ghanaian football community.
The Vetting Committee cited that Afriyie’s application was unsuccessful due to his breach of “Article 13(2)(j) of the Ghana Football Association statutes, 2019,” as well as his “failure to provide the required number of Ghana Football Association members to support your candidature.”
On George Afriyie’s nomination form, he indicated that the fifth GFA member supporting him was Victory Club Warriors FC, and the name and designation of the authorized officer of the supporting GFA member was stated as Jeffrey Asare, Director of Victory Club Warriors FC.
However, the records of Victory Club Warriors FC from the Office of the Registrar of Companies revealed that the only directors of Victory Club Warriors Ltd are Leslie Kuku Bartels and Angela Effah with Angela Effah as secretary.
The Committee also confirmed from the records submitted to the GFA by Victory Club Warriors FC that Jeffrey Asare was neither listed as an authorised signatory for the Club, nor was he registered on the FIFA Connect System as a Club official at the time of the signing of the Nomination Form, the vetting and decision-making by the Election Committee.
Subsequently, the Committee enquired via a recorded WhatsApp video call from the owner of Victory Club Warriors FC (the sole shareholder and director of the Victory Club Warriors Ltd.), Leslie Kuku Bartels, whether Jeffrey Asare was an authorised signatory for the club or a Director of the Company.
Leslie Kuku Bartels confirmed that Jeffrey Asare was neither an authorised signatory for the Club nor a director of the company.
Furthermore, Jeffrey Asare confirmed through a recorded WhatsApp video call that he was not a Director of Victory Club Warriors Ltd, as stated George Afriyie’s nomination form, and stated in a statutory declaration sworn on 8th August 2023.
Per his admission, he peddled falsehood by his statutory declaration.
Jeffrey Asare added that he was not an authorised signatory. He therefore did not have the capacity and authority of Victory Club Warriors FC to support your nomination at the time the same was signed.
Consequently, the Committee, therefore, came to the conclusion that Jeffrey Asare who was listed as the authorised signatory of your fifth supporting Ghana FA member and as a director of Victory Club Warriors Ltd, was not a director nor an authorised signatory of the supporting member in accordance with Article 13(2)(j) of the Ghana FA Statutes, 2019.
For the position of GFA President, George Afriyie was required to state one Ghana FA member proposing his candidature and five (5) GFA Members supporting it per the Ghana FA Statutes 2019.
The Committee, therefore, concluded that the endorsement by Jeffrey Asare is invalid.
Due to the invalidity, George Afriyie’s nomination form currently has four (4) Ghana FA members supporting him.
In light of this, George Afriyie didn’t meet the requirements to contest the election for the position of President of the Ghana FA.
source: Ghana Soccernet
