The President of the Ghana Football Association (GFA), Kurt Edwin-Simeon Okraku, has urged the Disciplinary Committee (DC) to work towards expeditious adjudication of cases and speedy dispensation of justice.

Addressing the 10-member Committee, chaired by Osei Kwadwo Adow Esq., President Okraku urged the members of the judicial body to dispense justice with alacrity as undue delays become a significant barrier to the effective administration of justice to the football community.

In a healthy and broad discussion, the President engaged members of the committee on the scope of their work, processes and logistical challenges, as well as the future outlook for this vital judicial organ of the GFA.

He assured that the Football Association would continue to invest in the judicial bodies by way of providing logistics and organising capacity building programmes, amongst others, to enable them to deliver on their mandate speedily.

Mr. Okraku said Match Commissioners and Referees will also undergo further training as has been done on a yearly basis.

President Okraku used the opportunity to commend members of the Committee for their dedication to duty.

“The essence of this engagement is to say ‘thank you’ for your support for the work of the FA and the football family. We do appreciate your work,” President Okraku said.

The President spoke highly about the new prosecutor whose work ethic received widespread commendation from the Committee.

“You would realise that we have changed the prosecutors. We now have a new prosecutor and I think he’s brought some energy into the process,” he said.

“I want to listen to your team as to how we can make this process a lot quicker, for decisions to come out a lot faster than we currently have. And then if there are inherent issues, we can pick them up and I will get the General Secretary to react immediately.”

Chairman of the Disciplinary Committee, Osei Kwadwo Adow Esq., called for a retreat for the judicial bodies to brainstorm at the end of the season.

“We want the FA to organise a retreat for the committee at the end of the season for us to assess ourselves and to look at the laws we are applying: To look at the procedures through which cases go before they get to us,” he said.

In supporting the call for the retreat, President Kurt Okraku said: “We’ve been talking about a retreat. I think that the retreat will focus on all the judicial committees of the FA so that there is a clear synergy amongst them. The retreat will provide a platform for participants to share ideas.”

He re-echoed his immense gratitude to the members of the Committee.

“On behalf of the Executive Council and on my own behalf, I would like to thank you once again for your dedicated service. I think we’ve come from a point where we’ve improved a lot. It’s very clear from the submissions that there is a lot that we can do for enhanced service delivery and I encourage all of you to sustain your support and make sure we deliver justice to our football community.” the President concluded.

The Ghana Football Association, under the leadership of Kurt Okraku is determined to build strong independent bodies for the betterment of the football community.

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