The Executive Council of Ghana Football Association (GFA), has excluded the proposed amendments to the GFA in their agenda for September 1, 2020, 26th Ordinary Congress.

The FA, in a 72-page document signed by Secretary-General, Prosper Harrison Addo, on August 20, did not capture the proposed amendments signed by over 60 members to have at least 51 articles of the 2019 GFA Statutes drafted by the now-defunct Normalisation Committee (NC) expunged or have their wording changed.

This move raised concerns within the football industry, but in a separate letter, the Secretary-General told members the association has written to FIFA for advice on proposed amendments.

The football governing body told members of the assembly that the Statutes were drafted in conjunction with FIFA, and they would require their guidance before forwarding them to Congress for approval or otherwise.

A portion of the letter sighted by Joy Sports said: "…as expected by a member Association of Fifa and as the Ghana MA did with the amendment to the Statutes in December 2019, the draft proposal to the amendment of the GFA Statutes, has been sent to FIFA for guidance on the subject matter."

The letter added that; "Upon receipt of FIFA's direction, we will prepare the amendments for the next congress which takes place after thirty(30) days in compliance with article 31(2) of the GFA statutes," it stated.

With the amendment proposals excluded, items expected to be discussed on September 1, 2020, would range from appointment of independent auditors upon a proposal from the Executive Council to the budget for the next financial year.

Per the congress document available to Joy Sports, the Ghana FA extended invites to KPMG, EY, Delloite and PwC to make proposals to become their auditors.

KPMG after a meeting with the football association, turned down the opportunity with the reason that, their 'schedule would not permit them to undertake audit for the association at the moment.'

For PwC, they deemed it inappropriate to audit the association because they render audit services for FIFA.

EY and Delloite did not respond to the request of the Ghana FA.

Other auditing firms made proposals to the FA and the Executive Council settled on Mazars Ghana, Baker Tilly Andah & Andah and B. Omani Antwi Consult. These three will be tabled to Congress for consideration.

However, it appears the Executive Council would prefer Baker Tilly Andah & Andah as their auditing firm.

They were scored 35 points and with the commentary of 'although the firm presented the 2nd highest audit fee [GHS 45,000], it had the overall audit experience as well as the only company with sports and football audit background.'

"The firm has a reputable name in the audit industry in Ghana and they are offering a very competitive price, " the GFA noted.

There is no commentary on the other two.

A careful analysis of the commentary shows that Baker Tilly Andah & Andah could be the lead choice as auditors.

There is an argument that, the ExCo should have allowed Congress to decipher for themselves the best auditing firm for the organisation by providing the capability statement for the selected firms and not stampede the decision of Congress by directing them to a particular auditing firm (Baker Tilly Andah & Andah).

Congress would also discuss compensation for members of the Executive Council and the President.

There's a recommendation from the three-man Committee headed by Frederick Moore (CEO of Hearts of Oak), with Delali Senaye (CEO of Inter Allies) and Sampson Nartey-Yoe (Financial consultant and Lecturer) as members that, the President, Kurt Okraku should be given a monthly allowance of GHS 12,000 compared to that of Kwesi Nyantakyi who had his figure increased to GHS 4,388 from GHS 1,800 in 2018.

The Vice President, Mark Addo would be on GHS 7,000 almost GHS 4,000 more than George Afriyie who had his allowance increased from GHS 1,500 to GHS 3,484, also in 2018.

The rest of the ExCo members would be on GHS 4,000 compared to the other three Emergency Committee (EmCo) of 2018 who were on GHS 2,621. Executive Committee members were not on monthly allowance in the previous administration.

Other emoluments such as per diems of $500 and $400 per day for foreign travels of the President and Vice President would also be discussed. ExCo members would be on $300 for foreign travels and flights should be on a business class ticket for all.

In 2018, the FA per diem for President, his Vice and EmCo for foreign travels were boxed for seven days and paid. Kwesi Nyantakyi and George Afriyie were on $1,980, and $1,583 respectively for a minimum of seven days trip, whilst the rest of the EmCo received $1,187 for the same duration.

For local travels, all members of the defunct Executive Committee including the President were on GHS 300. This figure has been increased by 100 per cent for the President (GHS 600), GHS 200 more for the Vice President and GHS 100 increase for the rest of ExCo.

Some members of Congress have raised concerns about the absence of financial data to back the ability of the association to pay such emoluments.

Others argue that, the remuneration of the current leaders of the association should be dependent on how much they have contributed to the growth of the company.

They say, the Economic Value Added (EVA) model should be prioritised to determine the executive compensation or emoluments. These figures, as proposed could hit rocks when tabled before the congress next month as they believe the current executives have not done enough to merit the payments proposed.

However, Frederick Moore's committee, have suggested an end to the payment of ex-gratia to members of the Executive Council as previously practiced.

E-gratia for the FA leadership between 2011 and 2015 was $15,000 for each member of the Kwesi Nyantakyi led administration. The FA explained then that, members of the ExCo were not on monthly allowance and duly deserved the money for their service to the industry within the four years they were part of leadership.

With this team said to be remunerated, the committee an end to the practice.

"The Committee concluded that, the age-long practice of paying a minimum seven-day foreign travels allowance to all persons travels between one and seven days must be stopped, " portion of the document said.

It added that; "The Committee also decided that the concept of ex-gratia should be stopped." They called on all 12 members of ExCo to function as the Emergency Committee (EmCo) as previously practiced.

A budget of GHS 71,642,158 for the next financial year, effective July 1, 2020, to June 30, 2021, would be presented to Congress for deliberation.