Ghana Olympic Committee Defiant Ahead of New Elections

(ATR) On the eve of a new election, the Ghana Olympic Committee could still face trouble with the IOC that may lead to another suspension ahead of London 2012, Around the Rings is told.

That’s because new rules put into place for the election appear to be rigged to ensure the incumbent leadership can’t lose.

Members of the Olympic Family in Ghana have appealed to the IOC to intervene with the GOC elections, scheduled by IOC mandate for Oct. 29.

An official familiar with the controversy tells ATR the IOC is unable to stop the process at this stage and can only act retroactively, as a matter of National Olympic Committee autonomy.

Two candidates have declared their intention to run: Francis Dodoo, who defeated incumbent Benson Baba in the disputed 2009 election, and Frank Appiah, current GOC vice president.

Despite the looming controversy, a defiant Baba is rejecting all the claims. When asked about the allegations, Baba became irate: "If you want to know the truth, just come to the GOC office and inspect the documents and that will be the end of it."

He added: "The Ghana Olympic Committee has always had its elections. That’s all I can tell you.

"There are no problems, there are no problems at all. Nobody is creating any problems," he told ATR, abruptly ending a phone call.

Current Complaints

Ghanaian triple jumper Andrew Owusu, like Dodoo, is now working as a university professor in the U.S. He tells ATR that Baba, who returned to the GOC presidency, has essentially rigged the system for his reelection.

The Baba-led administration introduced guidelines "out of the blue," Owusu said, "which were different from any that had been used in the past."

He cites three key rules. Federation leaders can run for GOC president, but only if they have served for four years or more. As part of the IOC’s requirements to lift the suspension, the national federations had to elect new leaders, meaning their presidents have been in office for only a few months.

Baba’s executives, who are also candidates for office, established a "vetting committee" for the election. Ostensibly, its role is to verify the eligibility of all candidates, or as Owusu charges, "to eliminate people" from running.

Owusu told ATR they also established an arbitration committee, meaning the incumbent candidates determine who will challenge the incumbents and then mediate any disputes brought against themselves.

"But it gets worse," he said.

"On the nomination form there is a clause there that says by signing you agree to all the stipulations in the guidelines. So if you sign that piece of paper, basically what it means is whatever the outcome is, you don’t even have a right to protest."

"The people they used to staff these committees, especially the vetting committee, are people who were actually responsible for getting us in trouble," Owusu said.

"Nobody can believe this is what is happening. It’s like the very institution the IOC was seeking to protect in Ghana is the one that is now trying to circumvent the process.

"We don’t know how they are able to do this – it makes no sense."

Multi-Year Problem

In January the GOCwas suspended by the IOC Executive Board due to political interference. The IOC feared that a new sports law would infringe upon the GOC’s autonomy as the government had the authority to appoint heads of national sporting federations. The Olympic Charter mandates all National Olympic Committees must be free of government interference.

Following an IOC meeting with the GOC earlier this year, the Ghanaian parliament amended the law in July, the requirement set forth by the IOC to be reinstated.

Troubles initially began in 2009 when GOC president Benson Baba lost his reelection to Francis Dodoo. Dodoo was believed to be backed by the national government.

Boycott Threats for Election

A majority of national federations are now planning to boycott the GOC elections on the grounds of being ruled ineligible to fully participate in the electoral process.

If the IOC does not satisfactorily intervene with the election, Owusu predicts a "very dysfunctional" GOC as well as the possibility that Ghanaian sports would skip the Olympics.

"One of the new national federation presidents said if the IOC allows this, there’s no reason we should participate in IOC activities because it means the IOC doesn’t even follow its own Charter," he said.

Owusu added that the IOC’s credibility is at stake should the election results stand.

Misleading IOC?

One part of the saga that Owusu finds particularly troubling is that he fears Baba may have misled the IOC during its investigation of the GOC.

Under the previous system in which the government could appoint heads of national federations, Baba was given the Ghanaian handball federation presidency.

The impression seems to be that IOC investigators felt as if this were a new process. Instead, Owusu claims, this had been going on for years.

"What Baba failed to tell the IOC at the very beginning is that this is not a system that did not all of a sudden come up," he said.

"In fact, it is the exact same process that Baba had used to gain the presidency three successive times.

Dodoo vs. GOC

Dodoo and the GOC have had an acrimonious relationship for years, Owusu claims, all stemming from Dodoo running for a seat on the Executive Board of the African Athletics Confederation, CAA.

During the process, the GOC EB actively undermined Dodoo’s candidacy. The intervention drew the attention of Lamine Diack, president of the International Association of Athletics Federations.

Owusu says Diack then became concerned about the GOC’s meddling with the Ghanaian Athletics Association, which Dodoo led, and started to see some of the issues plaguing the GOC.

Support for Dodoo

Owusu says he has allegiances to both men at the heart of the GOC struggle.

"I have worked with both sides," he said.

"Baba nominated me as a candidate [in 2000] for the IOC Athletes Commission and Francis Dodoo actually coached me."

He was clear that he supports Dodoo for the GOC presidency.

"Yes, I do have a candidate. My biggest concern is that all candidates are treated fairly."

Written and reported by Ed Hula III.

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