Two Ghanaian officials of the Ghana Football Association have been banned for a combined period of 15 months by FIFA for sexually harassing two women in Papua New Guinea.
Isaac Addo the acting FA General Secretary, and Nanabanyin Eyison, a member of the GFA executive committee and also chairman of the management committee of the national female U-20 team, are battling to clear their names of charge of sexual harassment brought against them by the Ethics Committee of FIFA.
Two Papua New Guinean women, who were reportedly assigned by FIFA to provide escort serivesc to the Ghanaian World Cup team filed a protest with the World football governing body for being sexually harassed by the Ghanaians during a workshop for the 2016 FIFA U-20 Women’s World Cup(WWC).
A GFA source told State-owned Graphic Sports that the world football governing body has handed the two FA officials bans from football activities, with Mr. Addo slapped with a nine-month ban and Mr. Eyison banned for six months.
The tabloid understands that the two accused FA officials have also been barred by FIFA’s confidentially clause, on the code of conduct, from commenting publicly on the issue until a finality has been brought to the matter.
They have, however, appointed attorneys who, at the moment, are handling the case in zurich, headquarters of FIFA, to overturn the suspensions.
The two men were in Papua New Guinea together with the black princesses coach, Mas-Ud Didid Dramani, for a workshop ahead of the WWC.
The charge brought against them by FIFA was one from the team liaison for Nigeria whom they met alone in an elevator.
A source close to the accused explained to the Graphic Sports that one of the Ghanaian officials asked the complainant if she was not afraid to be alone in the elevator with the three strange men given the incidents of rape in Papua New Guinea.
It was further alleged that the Ghanaian official also sought the opinion of Ghana’s Team Liaison Officer, as the only female with Ghana delegation, on why Ghana’s team had done well at the global under-17 level but were yet to break through at the under-2o level.
Further comments that the accused claimed they thought were jokes were considered sexists by the complaint with FIFA.
The third charge was another complaint from Ghana’s liaison officer, who claimed the FA officials spoke in their local dialect and laughed when the saw her in the lobby and she felt they had looked at her butt and reacted in that manner.
The attorney for the two men also refused to confirm to this paper on whether the two men had been banned, saying they were unhappy about the manner the issue had been twisted, finding their clients guilty before the final charge.
However, a lawyer, Nana Kissi Aseidu, quite knowledgeable in Papua New Guinea laws, said he was not surprise at the charges given the stringent laws on sexual, sexist harassment.
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