GFA General Secretary convicted for contempt of court
The Ghana FA’s General Secretary, Prosper Harrison Addo, has been convicted by an Accra High Court for contempt. He has been sentenced to one day in jail and fined Ghc24,000 by an Accra High Court as a result, but the lawyer will spend no time behind bars after the fines were promptly paid.
The contempt case was filed by Ashanti Gold after the FA went ahead to commence the 2023/23 Betpawa Premier League despite an interlocutory injunction imposed on the season.
Non-Executive Council member, Sheikh Tophic Sienu was also convicted by the Accra High court and the two men will serve a one-day jail sentence and also pay a fine of 2000 penalty units.
Harrison Addo has further been fined Gh¢24,000 while Sheikh Tophic was fined Gh¢12,000. In default, both parties were to spend 14 days imprisonment.
A day’s imprisonment means that the sentence is served once the fines are paid and the presiding judge ends his sitting for the day.
The judge ended the sitting before midday, and the fines were promptly paid by both Prosper Harrison Addo and Sheikh Tophic Abdul-Kadir Sienu, escaping any real jail time.
Days after news of the court’s injunction, Prosper Harrison Addo was quoted saying “I’ll put my life on it” to prevent ‘selfish’ people from ‘shutting down an entire industry’.
AshGold had taken the GFA to court after the club’s demotion to Divison II for a match-fixing scandal which hit the 2020/21 season.
“I’m so annoyed when we allow people like that to disturb the investment of others. What we have put clubs through to invest in their pitches, jersey and everything and then we allow one man or two people out of their own selfish interest and they attempt to spoil the game and then people will look on, I won’t look on.
“We will face this thing. In the coming days you will see. We will face this thing squarely; the rules are there and those people will be out of the game trust me. I’ll put my life on it. We will not sit down for a whole industry to shut down because of somebody’s selfish interest,” he said to Luv FM at the time.
However after weeks of hearing, an Accra High Court dismissed AshGold’s injunction application.
GFA president, Kurt Okraku, and 12 others were acquitted and discharged.
Source: Ghana News
