GFA's Kurt Okraku Urges Parliament to Lift Curbs on Alcohol Sponsorship

The President of the Ghana Football Association (GFA), Kurt Okraku, has asked Members of Parliament to help remove regulatory restrictions that stop alcoholic beverage companies from sponsoring sport in Ghana.

Mr Okraku made the appeal when he appeared before Parliament's Youth and Sports Committee, as first reported by Citi News.

He told the committee that rules enforced by the Food and Drugs Authority (FDA) were cutting sports bodies off from substantial funding. He contrasted the situation with leagues abroad, which he said continue to enjoy sponsorship arrangements with leading alcohol brands.

To illustrate his point, the GFA President pointed to a potential partnership with Guinness Ghana Limited. According to Mr Okraku, the company showed interest in putting significant money into the Ghana Premier League, and the association held a number of meetings with it.

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He said the proposed agreement, which he estimated at more than $5 million a year, collapsed because the FDA refused to approve it.

"We were approached by Guinness Ghana Limited, wanting to invest heavily in the Ghana Premier League. We did whatever we had to do. We had a series of meetings. At the end, FDA said no. The deal was, if I'm not mistaken, over $5 million a year. We lost it," he said.

Mr Okraku argued that the legal provision giving the FDA authority to decide whether alcohol companies may sponsor sporting activities should be scrapped altogether.

He urged the committee to take the lead in pushing for the repeal, saying such a change could open up fresh funding for the development of sport in the country.

"Mr Chairman, if there's one thing that you can do to help sports and football, that would be for you to lead the charge to completely take out that provision that gives the power to FDA to decide on what they can use their resources to support in respect to sports or football," he told the committee.

The source report did not include a response from the FDA or from members of the committee to the GFA President's request.