"My exploits got me into leadership positions at the GFA" | Prime Take With George Afriyie
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NewsTranscript
00:00 It is another special moment here on Prime Tech as we speak to a man who has shown so
00:05 much love when it comes to football.
00:07 A man who has invested his energy, his time, his resources into football.
00:13 Rose, when he came to the governance of football as the Vice President of the Ghana Football
00:18 Association, also became a Manningham Committee Chairman of the Ghana, of the senior national
00:24 team, the Black Stars.
00:26 While he contested for the position of President of the Football Governing Body in 2019, it
00:31 never went his way.
00:33 And as you recall vividly, in the second round, after the election or the results were counted,
00:43 there was a third round.
00:44 But he decided that at this point, let me throw in the towel and hand over the power
00:52 to Keto Kreku to be voted President of the Ghana Football Association.
00:57 And again, the following day, the world or the media saw a video of him congratulating
01:04 the GFA President, the then-elected GFA President, which is Keto Kreku.
01:09 Now he's throwing his hat again into the race for the position of President of the Ghana
01:13 Football Association.
01:14 I guess by now, you have an idea of the person I'm talking about.
01:17 He is George Akwesene Efre.
01:19 He's my guest tonight on Prime Tech.
01:21 Mr. George, thank you very much for your time.
01:24 Thank you.
01:25 Thank you.
01:26 You look good.
01:27 Oh, you look good too.
01:28 I like the cap and the glasses.
01:29 Thank you.
01:30 Thank you.
01:31 What is your secret?
01:32 Well, I'm a fashion freak person.
01:37 Yes, if you love fashion, sometimes you want to change your looks, but it's good to stay
01:44 healthy.
01:45 Being a fashion freak, it's good, but then it's good to stay healthy and you leave the
01:53 rest of the world to judge you how they see you.
01:57 So if you were not into football, what would you have been doing?
02:01 Well, apart from football, I love cars.
02:08 I've been involved with cars, automobiles in different aspects.
02:14 And I also love farming.
02:17 I'm a village boy.
02:20 Both sides of my family, from the mother's side, the father's side, my great-great-grandfathers
02:28 were fishermen and all that.
02:30 And so my mom's side, I see my great-grandmother and my grandmother, they were farmers.
02:39 They were cocoa farmers.
02:43 And so I see myself, I see the future of Africa, that we need to invest in farming.
02:50 I think that if you had the opportunity to travel out of this country and you see how
02:58 nations have developed, specifically I want to talk about Japan, US, Canada, then you
03:08 have to know that as a young man or as any person who comes from a background of some
03:16 farmers, you need to take farming seriously.
03:19 Because look, we are blessed, this country, we are blessed to have natural lands.
03:26 I mean, lands that are fertile to grow all sorts of crops and fruits for our well-being.
03:37 And so I think that I love to go into serious, serious, serious farming.
03:42 I'm doing it already, but I think I can do more.
03:48 I'm trying to woo some investors into the country and to go into serious farming.
03:55 When you say you are from, or you are a village boy, which village are you from?
04:02 I'm somehow a Dan boy when it comes to...
04:06 I'm a Gandangu boy.
04:09 And then on the other side too, I'm the Achem, Ashanti and Asante-Achem boy.
04:15 How?
04:16 You know, the history shows where my great grandparents migrated from, in a village called
04:27 Jimechi, within the Ashanti regions.
04:33 And most of them settled in Achem and the Ashanti-Achem lands.
04:36 So the migrators first settled in Agugu, Bonpata, Kokuren-Tumi, and then in Kwetiya.
04:46 These were the areas, Usino, these were the areas where the family, from the other side
04:51 of my family.
04:52 And then from here, it's purely between the great Accra.
04:56 So it's just Accra and Adan.
04:58 So where were you born?
04:59 Okay, so I was born in Accra.
05:01 And you're an Accra boy?
05:03 So you're not from any village?
05:06 No, but I grew up partly in some villages.
05:12 Some villages, yes.
05:13 I grew up partly in some villages.
05:15 But sometimes, because a story was told, sometimes I need to say this.
05:22 The story was told that my grandmother, my mother, to be honest with you, my mother,
05:33 my father attended Bonpata Training College.
05:38 And met my mom, a young lady, and impregnated her and ran away.
05:44 Oh God.
05:46 That if that was safe for the audience, that's me.
05:54 That's me.
05:55 So do you know your father?
05:57 Oh yeah, I was living with my father in Akosubo.
06:00 So after Rana, when he came back?
06:02 I had to go chase, look for him.
06:04 So how did you find him?
06:05 Oh, it's easy because, you know, in this country, once your dad has classmates, it's easy.
06:13 So one day, I had to chase my mom and say, "You have to take me, go look for that man."
06:20 My mom took me to a town near Pum.
06:24 I don't know where, you know where the Akosubo?
06:27 When you're going to Akosubo, it's a town called Pum.
06:30 That's where my father's father had a house there.
06:38 So we went there, we found my grandmother.
06:43 And my grandmother said, "Your father is a young teacher somewhere at Akosubo."
06:49 So that's when we had to trace my dad.
06:52 Then we met my dad.
06:54 He was a very handsome man.
06:57 At what age were you?
06:58 I was maybe in class two, class three.
07:03 And I saw the man, very nice man.
07:06 And then if you know Akosubo very well, the staff of VRE then, they live in bungalows and all that.
07:15 So I went with his brother.
07:18 And his brother was a tutor at Aquamuman Secondary School.
07:24 So he took me to the house and my dad had gone to fishing as a teacher.
07:33 He was teaching and then he went out to work?
07:35 He went out to the Akosubo Dam site to do fishing.
07:39 Sometimes he would do fishing and bring fish back home.
07:43 We got there and he was not there.
07:46 And then he had a mango tree behind his house.
07:51 So because the brother had a key to his bungalow, he opened and then I entered.
07:57 And then I just saw ripe mangoes and climbed the tree.
08:01 You're already a homeboy.
08:03 And then the man came and said, "Hey, Akosubo, throw me mangoes."
08:07 Then the father, the father just folded his arms and said, "Akosubo, what will be in your plan?"
08:13 That's the boy.
08:17 So you've been a firebrand for a long time.
08:21 So that was it.
08:23 And then he saw me and he was like, "Hey, go and see."
08:26 You know what I mean?
08:29 I was like, "I'm going to see."
08:33 Wow.
08:35 Yeah, that's me.
08:37 So how would you describe your childhood beginning?
08:40 It was okay because I had some great grandparents.
08:45 I had some good family.
08:48 My uncle, one of my uncles was an Air Force pilot.
08:54 Two of my uncles were both Air Force pilots.
08:57 Yes, yes, yes. They were Air Force pilots.
09:01 It was easy.
09:03 And my mom, Uli's sister, was also living in the UK with her husband.
09:08 So we enjoyed life as kids.
09:12 It was a bit rough and tough, but we had some very decent upbringing.
09:20 And I'm sure that decent upbringing created some kind of opportunities for you, right?
09:28 Oh, yes.
09:30 Those of us who are more than 50 years, if you know the culture that existed in Ghana,
09:43 you are being guided how to grow up.
09:47 There was nothing like a free life where if you are lucky to come from a home like mine,
09:53 where both parents, my mom was a teacher, my dad was a teacher, later became a politician.
09:59 My father was once the CPP General Secretary for Suidjaman, later became CPP Secretary for Eastern Region.
10:12 He became the head of Vigilante. You heard of the Vigilante?
10:17 He was a very nice man. Anybody who knows my father will tell you that he was a very, very nice man.
10:25 And so my mom was MPP woman organiser.
10:30 Then you were born into a political home.
10:33 CPP later, my grandmother, my father's mother's sister was top NDC woman, head of the women's something.
10:42 And so both sides of my family, my dad's side was in the CPP NDC, my mom's side was in the MPP.
10:50 And so I saw them doing their own thing and as a young man, I was a different person.
10:56 Oh, so you are a politician, is it?
10:59 I was born into a political family, no doubt about that.
11:04 And both sides of my family, each side has serious political lineage into the two big political parties in this country.
11:16 How would you describe your educational journey then?
11:19 Well, initially it was smooth, but along the line, maybe after polytechnic education, I felt that this country was not meant for me.
11:32 I see myself as someone who really wanted to make it in life and I felt the pace of life in Ghana.
11:44 It's not the one that I want to, I felt that I must go out there to see what is in stock for me.
11:51 That is how come my early ages I travelled out of this country to live in Japan.
11:57 A lot of people don't know that my uncle's best friend, best, best friend, one of my uncles was an Air Force pilot.
12:07 In fact, he was the first Ghanaian to bring private airlines to this country called Pioneer Airlines.
12:14 My uncle, one of the ones who passed, the one who had a plane crash, was, if you, you are still young, I mean, back in the days,
12:26 you remember there was a story of a Ghanaian pilot, Air Force pilot who had a plane crash on the Ghana-Togo border.
12:35 One of them was my uncle. Initially, everything was okay, but I wanted to take something different.
12:43 I wanted to take something different, so maybe along the line, I had to abandon education and do some hustling life.
12:51 And then later to upgrade myself to the way you see me today.
12:54 And why Japan?
12:56 Okay, so I had uncles and friends who said, "Charlie, the place is good, it's this and that and that. I've heard stories of it."
13:04 And so I said, "Well, why not try it? So let's give it a try."
13:09 But it wasn't the place that I enjoyed initially.
13:14 I went to Japan, spent like less than four years, and then came back, lived for a while, and then went back again.
13:22 So when Dr. … one of the former ambassadors, I just want to remember the name, became the ambassador.
13:39 He happens to be my uncle's very good friend.
13:43 And then he felt that he could even offer me a position to serve at the embassy.
13:48 But at that time, I wasn't really for it.
13:52 And so I wanted to do my own thing.
13:55 And so I went straight into business.
13:58 I went straight into having my own, doing my own thing, because I've then been able to live for a while, make some friends, build some contacts.
14:11 And I realized that there was a lot that I could do in that society.
14:15 So I left that big opportunity to serve for my country and all that, to do my own business.
14:26 And that was what kept me in Japan for a while before I returned back again.
14:32 But during that period, there wasn't a single time that I stayed like one whole year without visiting Ghana.
14:39 Oh, okay.
14:40 About three, four months I'm in Ghana, back again three, four months I'm in Ghana.
14:44 Yes, yes, yes.
14:45 I was one of the first Ghanaians who started doing business from Ghana to Japan.
14:51 You know, early days, the early day Ghanaian residents in Japan were mostly hostess.
14:58 They were people who were working, they were teachers, they were lecturers, they were other, I mean, qualified professionals who were doing their own thing.
15:07 But then the other few Ghanaians that had gone on pure hustling, working in the factories and all that, were staying and working.
15:14 It took few of us to take the bold initiative.
15:17 And we thank President Kofo who offered that opportunity.
15:21 It took President Kofo to say that, look, there are opportunities for guys, young guys like you who have stayed in this country to make money, to return back home to invest.
15:31 That's how come you go to East Lagoon, you find guys like Anji Hotel, Irata Hotel, Menz Vic Hotel, MNJ.
15:39 These are all guys who decided that having stayed in Japan, having worked there, having made money, we want to return back home and invest.
15:49 So most of them invested in the hospitality business, some went into real estate.
15:53 Like my good self, I also choose the real estate business, you understand.
15:57 I did automobile for a while and then later I felt that let me go into the real estate business.
16:03 We did it in a very small scale.
16:06 But some of my friends like Anji Hill and Irata and Menz Vic, they did it in big, large scale.
16:14 They helped with all the houses.
16:16 So most of the hotels in East Lagoon, they are your buddies?
16:20 Yeah, they are my buddy, buddy, buddy, buddy.
16:23 Oh, I see. But why didn't you also go to the hospitality side?
16:26 Well, we can all not do the same thing.
16:29 See, my passion for football, that's how it comes sometimes when we meet, they keep laughing at me.
16:34 They say I'm not a Korean performer.
16:37 We can all not have the same kind of, you understand.
16:40 Some must do something differently.
16:43 And for me, my passion was football.
16:45 I've always developed that passion, great passion for football.
16:48 Did you play football?
16:50 Well, not to...
16:51 The amateur level or you play at the pastime level?
16:54 We played football, but not to that level where you wanted to see some of us.
16:59 But along the line, my interest was to be an agent, a football agent.
17:08 I started with players like Kenneth Sappong, the late Suman Darzi, and a few others I wanted to try.
17:22 In fact, at that point, I wanted to even manage Aziz Ansah.
17:25 Oh, okay. Former Kodokor writer.
17:27 Yeah, former Kodokor player. I wanted to manage him.
17:29 I remember when Dr. Kwambani, I interviewed him at Adom.
17:36 I accompanied him to that famous interview.
17:39 I think when he won the best defender of the year or something.
17:42 He was playing, then playing for Comanches at the Kodokor.
17:45 So, my passion was purely for football.
17:48 Even though I was into business and I was doing my own business, I was into automobile and all that.
17:54 My pure passion was football.
17:57 Considering the fact that you were born into a political home,
18:01 why didn't you follow the footsteps of your mother, your father, your uncles, but you went to football?
18:09 Well...
18:11 Or you are still a politician?
18:13 At the point, I still have politics in me, but I'm still doing football politics.
18:19 At the point, I was contemplating.
18:23 Let me be fair. I was contemplating going into serious politics.
18:29 Mainstream, multi-party politics.
18:34 I've been considering it and maybe, who knows, I still have all that interest.
18:40 You still have the interest?
18:42 You see, Mufti, somebody must effect a change.
18:46 That's my belief.
18:48 Somebody somehow must effect a change in this country.
18:53 Mufti, in football, we are not fortunate.
18:58 Maybe in our early days, we saw the business aspect, but it was the passion to help Ghana football.
19:09 That was maybe our mistake.
19:12 Unlike today, people think that, "Hey, let's make money."
19:15 That was our mistake.
19:17 Our mistake was that we should help the society.
19:23 We should help grow the sport in this country.
19:27 That was our interest.
19:29 At what point exactly did you get into football?
19:32 Early 2000, 2001, 2002.
19:35 Early 2000, I mean when I want to talk about mainstream.
19:40 2000, 2001, 2002.
19:43 Okay, so in 1996, 27 years ago, Ghana qualified for the Atlanta Olympics.
19:57 Ghana camped in Japan, proud to go into Atlanta.
20:05 The Ghana Olympic team traveled to Japan to play the Japan Olympic team before they played to Atlanta for the competition.
20:17 I was then living in Japan.
20:20 My passion drove me straight to the team.
20:26 I went to the team hotel.
20:28 I met them.
20:30 Players like Augustine Ahimfo, Joe Addo, Simon Addo, Afododu, former captain CK Akono, Osei Kofuo.
20:45 These were players that were my friends.
20:49 I met them and took them around, did some big shopping for them.
20:55 I remember very well that even in 1996, I went to the electronic hub of Japan, a place called Akihabara.
21:05 Akihabara in Tokyo is the electronic hub where all the electronics that you can think of.
21:12 If you are a foreigner and you walk to Tokyo and you want to buy any electronics to your country, that's where you have the 220 voltage.
21:20 It's an electronic hub.
21:25 I drove to Akihabara and picked three players from the national team and bought 10 Seiko watches for them.
21:35 Back in 1996.
21:37 You were rich? Or you are still rich?
21:40 No.
21:42 Sometimes it's not about how much you have in your bank account or how much you have on you.
21:47 It's about, I don't know whether you have followed football back in the days.
21:53 The people who love football, who are spending money with football, we're not doing it to get because they are so rich and they want to part.
22:01 They are moved by the love of the sport to spend on footballers.
22:07 In my early upbringing and following football in Ghana, and I want to talk about the Accra Olympics and I want to talk about Kumasi Asante Kotoko.
22:19 In Kumasi Asante Kotoko, you had people like the man who, if you have heard of Esu Jaman, the man who deals in plywood and TNJ and all that.
22:30 I saw that man, Kujo, and those days he would spend on players like nobody's business.
22:38 Osekwame Despite. Spends on players like nobody's business.
22:43 There was a man who used to work for Gassem, he's called Mr. Edu.
22:46 They would give players money, they would foreign your accounts, they would be worse.
22:53 They were just spending on players.
22:56 So we copied from the love that we had for players.
23:02 We copied that from our older seniors.
23:10 And then we also developed that because when I was growing up and I saw that, and I was in Japan and the national team, the Ghana Olympic team had visited Japan.
23:20 and me going to their team hotel, taking pictures with them and moving around with them.
23:25 I wanted to show them that hey Charlie, me too, I have that kind of spirit in me.
23:30 You've come to my home.
23:31 Let me tell you, I gave each one of the 23 players a Pele Pele G's, each one of them.
23:39 Each one of them, each one of the 23 players, each one of them.
23:45 Each one of them.
23:49 Was that your initiation into football?
23:51 It was and it was just a passion and a love I have for the team.
23:54 Yeah, but having done that, you probably would have thought,
23:58 okay, why not get into India and then just do it at a bigger scale?
24:04 You see, even when I became an executive committee member,
24:14 the era when Nana Budu, Alahaji Raji were under 17 management members,
24:22 the chairman was Mr. Nwenye Amiche, former chairman of the Ghana Football Association.
24:31 He was the chairman of the national under 17 management team.
24:35 Some of the members were Ubed Nananketia, Chelsea boss,
24:40 Alahaji Raji, Nana Budu.
24:43 They were members of the under 17 management team.
24:46 They took the national under 17 team to Japan for a preparation
24:52 towards the under 17 World Cup in 2007 in Korea.
24:59 So, a preparation to go to the World Cup in Korea.
25:04 I remember.
25:05 They camped in Japan. I flew from here, went to Japan,
25:11 got a Japanese friend of mine to spend on the team with cash
25:17 and circle watches for the entire team.
25:19 Entire team.
25:22 The entire team.
25:26 When the team left Japan to Korea,
25:30 I followed the team to Korea.
25:33 There was a match between Brazil.
25:37 There was an eight nation tournament prior to the main World Cup.
25:42 And Ghana played Brazil.
25:44 I drove to the team hotel.
25:47 They had just played, I think, Haiti.
25:51 They had just played Haiti or Brazil.
25:56 And I saw the players in bathroom sandals.
26:02 The national under 17 team was in the bathroom sandals.
26:06 All of them.
26:07 This one is wearing Chariwati.
26:08 This one is wearing that.
26:09 That one is wearing that.
26:10 That one is wearing that.
26:11 And we were being kitted by Puma.
26:16 So they were in their Puma.
26:17 Housewear, Puma, but they had no uniformed slippers.
26:25 Yeah.
26:26 I drove to Itaewon,
26:29 a place in Korea called Itaewon Night Market,
26:32 and bought a Puma sneaker for the entire team.
26:35 I was not a member of the team.
26:38 I just traveled to visit them.
26:40 These are things I have done for teams,
26:44 national team of Ghana.
26:47 But I also recall that during your club days, was it Gamba All Black?
26:52 Right.
26:53 I have a video of you, Safis, many years ago where you were like,
26:58 people said I couldn't do it.
26:59 I've done it.
27:00 When you call up my name, I remember all that.
27:02 Talk us through the journey of you getting into club football
27:05 and subsequently into getting to the leadership position at the FA.
27:09 All Blacks will return to the premiership and he scores!
27:19 Swain Droblox are back into the elite division.
27:23 They've had their hopes totally shattered on the day.
27:26 I'm delighted and I'm savoring the moment.
27:33 It's absolutely awesome.
27:37 Many people have said so many things about this team,
27:39 that All Blacks can never come.
27:41 There are so many goals, there are so many things against this team.
27:44 But I was blessed to be the point that a young man like me
27:48 can bring this team back.
27:49 And I assure everybody, we are not going back.
27:52 We are back for good.
27:55 Thank you very much. Congratulations.
27:57 OK, so this is how it started.
28:06 I had a friend living in Sweden
28:10 who approached me that the good old All Blacks
28:15 has gone down, deep down to the lower divisions.
28:22 After the late George Edusey Puku had left the team
28:26 and the team has sunk deep,
28:29 like way down to like division two levels.
28:32 This was a premier division club, a team that has won the FA Cup by then.
28:37 Players like Baba Amando and co.
28:41 So he said, George, we have seen your passion for football.
28:45 We think that you can help revive and bring the team back
28:50 to its rightful position.
28:53 Initially, I wasn't interested because my passion then was to manage players.
28:58 My passion was to just help players get opportunities
29:02 into the international footballing world.
29:04 But along the line, the pressure was coming.
29:09 And as a young man who had returned from Japan
29:13 with some cash in my bank account, the guys would come to me
29:17 and when they see the way I was spreading them,
29:19 they said, Charlie, this must get him to Sweden at all costs.
29:22 So I accepted the challenge.
29:25 We went, realised that, yes, the team was in a division two club.
29:30 And I felt like, well, let me give it a try.
29:34 So right away, I decided to put certain things in place,
29:38 make sure that they are well kitted, get them in the team bars,
29:42 put them into a professional clubhouse and all that.
29:46 I started to turn things around.
29:49 We tried to qualify from the Central Region Division Two.
29:54 In my first year, we qualified for the finals of the Central Region Division Two.
29:59 We played against Shakahu 4, a team called Shakahu 4.
30:02 We lost in the final.
30:05 They beat us 4-2. We couldn't qualify.
30:08 The following year, I was to do it again.
30:12 Then someone told me there's a team in the
30:16 secondary Takaradio environs called Bafana Bafana.
30:20 And the owner, George Fobia, a popular known Fobia supporter,
30:24 said he wants to sell the team Bafana Bafana.
30:28 So then I look at the cost of playing
30:32 in the division two again, as against buying the slot of Bafana Bafana,
30:38 which was in the same zone, zone two.
30:41 Then I found it
30:43 cheaper, less cost
30:45 to buy the slot.
30:50 So that's how we bought the slot of Bafana Bafana.
30:54 And then we changed the name to Gamba Oblax.
30:58 So we played the first year.
31:02 We couldn't qualify.
31:04 But the second year, I made a promise to the people of Swidu
31:08 that this year I'm taking the team to the Premier League.
31:11 We did our best.
31:12 But unfortunately, we came third.
31:15 That was the old format where you play sub-middle league, middle league.
31:18 And so then the third team from the Premier Division will play a playoff.
31:23 So we had to do a playoff for Kukwau United.
31:26 If you know the history of Kukwau United, they have just gone on relegation,
31:30 but then they were third from bottom.
31:32 So they had to play the third place from the super
31:36 middle league team, and that was Oblax.
31:39 So we went into this game, but prior to that game,
31:44 there were a lot of permutations.
31:46 There were a lot of, "Ah, is Oblax going to beat Kukwau?"
31:49 Kukwau United had all the big men in Ghana football then.
31:52 Because Kukwau, if you know, when we say Kukwau United,
31:57 the likes of Sam King, the likes of...
31:58 In this country, one of the most
32:01 industrious people in this country are the Kukwaus.
32:04 Yeah, it's not Kukwau.
32:05 I mean, we share a border.
32:07 You know, he's a country in Iraq.
32:10 He's the country in Europe.
32:13 Yeah.
32:13 And then he was very influential when you talk of GFE.
32:18 Not only him, Tim Daku, the then Deputy General Secretary, Technical.
32:23 So all of them, I mean, you hear the names, Odun Njaku, the longest boss secretary.
32:28 So you hear the name and say, "Charlie, this is a Herculean task.
32:33 I don't see how we're going to summon this challenge."
32:36 And you know Oblaks?
32:39 Oblaks was me, Isaac Kumsing and James Nunu.
32:43 Three musketeers running around trying to qualify ahead of this.
32:50 And I mean, if you look at even the competition itself,
32:54 this is a Premier Division.
32:55 Yeah.
32:56 And we are a Division 2 club, our Dijon club, trying to...
33:00 So I mean, comparatively, there was no way we could
33:05 summon such a challenge.
33:07 But then, I mean, in football, everything is planning and everything.
33:12 It's the way you strategize.
33:14 So the night before we met, we designed the plot.
33:18 We planned everything. Thankfully and by God's grace,
33:22 the game went into a penalty shootout.
33:25 And as destiny may have it,
33:28 Ismail Yati kicked the last penalty kick.
33:32 And we qualified to Premier.
33:35 And so that was the joy and the work we had put in place.
33:39 And that was what you saw.
33:40 When you were speaking to Kobra Yeboah,
33:43 the good old Kobra Yeboah.
33:44 That was quite an interesting one.
33:46 Yes, yes, yes, yes.
33:47 And then you went to...
33:48 And Kobra Yeboah himself, a cow.
33:50 Oh, really?
33:51 Of course, Kobra is a cow.
33:52 I see.
33:53 You see, the big man, look, Kempon cow.
33:57 Oh, the big man you can think of in football.
34:00 They are all cows.
34:01 They are all cows.
34:03 Because they are my friends, my own dad and son.
34:05 Because...
34:07 All of them, top, top, top, top, top, top, top.
34:11 They are very industrious.
34:13 So I didn't see how I was going to scale past that.
34:17 So from the club level,
34:19 how then did you rope yourself into the football politics?
34:21 OK, so you see, sometimes
34:24 your exploits gives you out.
34:28 The way you endeared yourself
34:33 among your peers and your colleagues.
34:35 It's when there are positions available
34:38 and you want to vie for it.
34:40 People look at what you've been able to achieve,
34:43 what you've been able to bring on board.
34:45 So at that time, in the 2005, when
34:47 we were moving from the old order to the new order,
34:51 it became obvious that if they were looking for a certain...
34:55 We were looking for a delegate from Zone 2,
34:59 you can't go past Jojo Free.
35:02 There was no way, because within the Zone 2 clubs,
35:06 within the central region football, I had actually
35:10 demonstrated my capabilities.
35:14 I've demonstrated from the Regional Football Association,
35:17 I've demonstrated from clubs within my zone that, yes,
35:20 if you need someone to represent you, this is a man
35:23 who could go onto the committee and speak his mind.
35:26 This is the man who could go onto the committee
35:28 and serve the interests of the zone.
35:31 So right away, when I...
35:32 In fact, it will surprise you to know that in that election,
35:36 out of the 48 Premier Division 1 clubs,
35:39 I think I had about 44.
35:42 Wow. Yes, only four clubs.
35:45 Subsequently, four years later, I had 40 clubs voting for me.
35:50 I think between me and PAP, say 40 and 39.
35:53 So those times,
35:58 it was about what the man brings on board.
36:01 So why did you decide to even contest in the first place?
36:03 Well, it was a calling.
36:05 I felt that I could
36:08 impact my knowledge
36:13 of what I've been able to see around and what I've also been able to learn
36:18 from the foreign world.
36:20 I thought that a lot needed to change.
36:23 A lot needed to change.
36:25 I felt that our football was still in the dark ages.
36:29 When I came back from Japan, knowing where I was coming from
36:32 and knowing what I see, the development of football and all that,
36:36 I felt that our football...
36:37 Because, look, I would drive to Cape Cod Sports Stadium
36:41 and the placards lined up
36:46 where the substitution board.
36:48 You take number one and take number two and join together.
36:51 And that's number two. I say, "Ah ha, how about that?"
36:52 "Why can't we be doing this in the 21st century?"
36:57 I mean, and this is fact.
37:00 Did you make the impact you thought you could?
37:03 Yeah, of course. I changed a lot of things.
37:05 You know, at one point I bought substitution boards from Korea,
37:09 gave it to the FA and asked them, gave them an invoice.
37:12 They said, "When you have money, just pay me."
37:14 Centers that were not owned by National Sports Authority,
37:18 I gave them for free.
37:19 Dan Sumer, free. Boise, as good, free.
37:21 One other venue where the league centers, the Premier League centers,
37:26 I gave them for free.
37:27 You can ask Mr. Kudu for that.
37:29 Free, free, free.
37:31 I felt that, no, in the 21st century,
37:33 we cannot be using substitution boards where we create...
37:36 Do you have a...
37:38 No, no, no.
37:38 You were at Chokadava?
37:39 Yeah, yeah, Chokadava.
37:40 It was there.
37:41 You saw it.
37:42 I remember some of all these things.
37:44 Yeah, they were quite interesting.
37:45 But George, I'm afraid,
37:48 it's quite interesting that you rose to become
37:53 the GFA vice president.
37:56 How did you get there?
37:57 How did President Achief propose so much confidence in you?
38:01 And he said, "This gentleman should be second in command."
38:04 Because I do recall, prior to that,
38:07 the GFA vice president was a position that people had to vie for.
38:12 And you had to vote.
38:13 But when we changed the statutes,
38:15 you were the first person he appointed as his vice president.
38:18 I don't remember whether I was the first.
38:22 I think I was the second.
38:23 I think Fred Crenshaw was also...
38:25 I don't know.
38:26 Fred Crenshaw was voted.
38:27 I remember...
38:28 No, it was Jordan that was voted.
38:30 Fred was also appointed.
38:32 Okay, yeah.
38:33 Yeah, part of the GFA.
38:34 Fred was appointed.
38:36 Initially, those who vied for was Fred Papu.
38:39 Fred Papu.
38:40 And Jordan Annabella.
38:42 And then Mr. Fred Crenshaw was appointed.
38:46 I think that everything...
38:47 You were appointed in 2015, if I'm not mistaken.
38:49 2015, yes.
38:51 It was when we changed the statutes
38:53 to give the power to the president to appoint.
38:56 So it was...
38:58 The president acted within the statutes.
39:01 He acted within the statutes.
39:03 Now, maybe we wanted to use the Ghana system,
39:07 where the president appoints someone
39:11 that he feels comfortable with.
39:13 Yeah, but the truth remains that
39:16 I didn't just get to the vice president
39:19 by way of...
39:21 I had actually worked my way to that point.
39:26 Remember, I first contested in 2005
39:29 to become an executive committee member.
39:32 Contested again to become re-elected
39:35 to become an executive committee member.
39:37 Now, remember we had an executive committee,
39:41 the larger one.
39:42 Yes.
39:43 And we have the emergency committee.
39:44 So the emergency committee,
39:47 in the previous ones,
39:49 we also vote for the emergency committee.
39:52 Oh, okay.
39:53 So when the power was vested in the president to appoint,
39:57 the first time he appointed was the Jordan,
40:00 the Jordan French Council era.
40:03 Remember that I was appointed an ESCO member.
40:07 I became an ESCO member,
40:08 EMCO member,
40:09 before vice president.
40:12 So I worked, I rose through the ranks.
40:15 ESCO, ESCO, EMCO before vice president.
40:19 And I believe that at a point,
40:21 Mr. Nyantechi had saw my dedication,
40:24 my loyalty,
40:26 worked throughout.
40:28 And I was, that's why today I will sit
40:31 and take credit for every successes
40:35 under Mr. Nyantechi.
40:37 And take the blame for every failures.
40:41 Because I was part from the one to the end.
40:45 - But, okay.
40:47 So you mentioned,
40:48 maybe Kweisi Nyantechi saw something and appointed you,
40:50 but as you recall, something interesting.
40:52 - And remember that,
40:54 it is not just when the president appoints,
40:57 it ends there.
40:58 It must be accepted by the ESCO.
41:00 - But is a president's choice?
41:03 - No, if you appoint the person and the people don't like it,
41:06 they will say, "No, Mr. President, we don't want."
41:08 Bring another person.
41:10 Is that the law?
41:10 It didn't say when you appoint, no.
41:12 He must nominate.
41:13 - How powerful to tell the GFA president, "No, we don't want."
41:16 - Now, why not?
41:17 Our ESCO was very solid, strong.
41:20 Moved out.
41:21 Look at the members of the ESCO then.
41:24 Look at the members.
41:26 You know members.
41:27 It's not good, it's not nice to be mentioning names.
41:29 And, but you know, members of the ESCO then,
41:32 they were not just people
41:34 who stopped them from speaking their mind.
41:36 At least if you don't know anybody at all, you know Palmer.
41:39 - Did you?
41:39 (laughing)
41:41 - At least if you don't know anybody at all, you know Palmer.
41:43 - Did you ever hear the story that there was a point that
41:47 Nyenteke was told not to appoint you as his vice president?
41:50 - Yes.
41:51 Yes.
41:52 In fact, there was a point where somebody
41:57 lectured to him.
41:59 And the person had told him that,
42:04 if he appoints me, within one year, he will die.
42:08 Yeah.
42:11 Yeah.
42:12 And in fact, the person had said that,
42:14 I've gone to a Juju man.
42:15 And Juju man had come to tell him that I had come to him.
42:21 And so if he appoints me, he will die within one year.
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