Kofi Manu Banned One Year For Not Cooperating With Ethics Committee

The GFA Ethics Committee has decided to ban Mr. Kofi Manu from taking part in all football-related activity for a period of One year for breaching Article 18 of the GFA Code of Ethics (2019).

The GFA Ethics Committee at its meeting held on December 10, 2020 found Mr. Kofi Manu to have breached Article 18 of the GFA Code of Ethics (2019) (Duty to Cooperate) which imposes a duty to assist and cooperate truthfully, fully and in good faith with the Ethics Committee at all times, and not to take any action actually or apparently intended to obstruct, evade, or otherwise interfere with any actual or potential Ethic Committee proceedings.

The Committee has commenced proceedings into Mr. Kofi Manu’s alleged involvement in Tiger Eye’s Number 12 Documentary. Mr. Manu was served notice in a letter dated November 23, 2020, to appear before the Committee in person on Thursday December 3, 2020.

A copy of the Tiger Eye’s video was added to the letter.  However Mr. Manu failed to appear before the GFA Ethics Committee. Mr Manu had also failed to honour a previous invitation to appear before the Ethics Committee on November 19, 2020.

In a letter dated December 1, 2020, Mr. Manu raised various issues which could have been resolved if he had attended the meeting scheduled for December 3, 2020.

On the basis of his conduct, the Committee found Mr. Kofi Manu guilty of breaching Article 18 which imposes the following sanctions in case of violation:

• fine of at least GHc5,000
• a ban on taking part in any football-related activity for a maximum of two years

Going forward, the Committee expects Mr. Kofi Manu to act in good faith and desist from acts that could bring the image of the game and the GFA into disrepute.

COMMITTEE’S DECISION

The decision of the Committee is:

• To ban Mr. Kofi Manu from taking part in any football-related activity for a period of One Year with immediate effect in accordance with Article 18(6), of the GFA Code of Ethics.
• To impose on Mr. Kofi Manu a fine in the amount of GHc5000. Payment shall be made to the GFA within 14 days after receipt of this Decision
• Kofi Manu is expected to appear at the Committee’s next sitting on Wednesday December 30, 2020 at 4:00pm, failing which the Committee will proceed with its work without further reference to him.

Should Mr. Kofi Manu be dissatisfied with or aggrieved by this Decision, he has within Three (3) days of being notified of the grounds of the decision to appeal to the Appeals Committee of the Ghana Football Association.