A leading contender for the Ghana Football Association (GFA) Presidency, Wilfred Osei Kweku, aka Palmer, launched his manifesto on Wednesday with an ambitious pledge of generating $90.3m revenue for the association when given the nod.
This, he said, will be achieved by revenue accrued from television broadcast rights, marketing rights, licensing rights, merchandizing, digital transformation hub, grants from FIFA and CAF, proceeds from gates, internally generated funds among others.
The policy document captioned “Reforming Ghana Football” tackles eight areas which he deemed key pillars to effect monumental changes to the game.
They include football development, governance and administration, infrastructure development, safety and security, commercialization, financial resources, regulatory framework and competitions.
Explaining details of the policy to delegates, key football functionaries and journalists who had filled the Botsio Hall at the Alisa Hotel in Accra, the Tema Youth founder stated that his administration was going to introduce new models in youth football that was going to change the phase of the game at that level.
Special focus and attention will be on children between the ages of six and10 and 11-15 with the necessary supply of logistics and a keen focus on bio-data technology for their development.
Touching on governance and administrative structure of the FA, Palmer assured that under his tenure he will restore the tainted corporate image of the association and scrape the existing Organogram of the association for a more effective and functional structure .
Under his tenure, the Regional Football Associations will be institutionalized to run more effectively where the headquarters where the central venue for all FA activities.
On finance which he described as his area of expertise, he reckoned that football had become capital intensive and there required substantial financial firepower to develop the game.
He revealed plans to institute novel methods of generating revenue for the association whilst prudent measures were put in place to ensure accountability.
On competition and commercialisation, Palmer said the various games will receive massive publicity because that will be a driving force to get corporate Ghana on board, adding that the association will insist on proper branded apparels for all clubs to ensure marketing opportunities.
Palmer told the delegates that with his vast experience and knowledge in Ghana football and finance, having served in various capacities on the FA, he was best suited to lead the FA into the beckoning future.
He urged the contenders to conduct a campaign based on contest of issues and avoid the smear campaign and name-calling that is predominantly associated with politics.
On October 25, Palmer will be joined by fellow presidential aspirants George Afriyie, Kurt Okraku, Amanda Clinton, George Ankomah, Fred Pappoe and Nana Yaw Amponsah pending their approval by the vetting committee.
BY NANA BENTSI ODURO
