Why CAS disqualified Osei Palmer

The Court of Arbitration for Sports (CAS), dismissed Wilfred Kwaku Osei’s appeal contesting the decision of the Election Committee to disqualify him from the 2019 GFA Presidential elections.

The arbitral award which was delivered to the parties on September 1, 2020, said though the first reason (failure to pay 10% to the GFA) is not ‘very strong’ to merit his ineligibility to contest the elections, ‘…not honouring a debt of a club towards a national federation may be in conflict of interest with the aspiration to become president of the same federation’.

Mitchell A.R Bernasconi panel added that “the behaviour of the appellant and his club does raise some legitimate doubts that, given that the appellant has not submitted any convincing evidence to prove the legitimacy of the club’s refusal to make the payment and his own capacity and efforts to positively influence the club’s compliance.’

The Tema Youth accused the Vetting Committee of bias, but CAS said he failed to raise an objection to the composition, hence, he waived his right since he knew there could be potential bias against him.

CAS did not entirely rule out the possibility of bias, but his failure to raise an objection even when he was given the opportunity by the Vetting Committee shows, he was ‘okay’ with the panel.

The panel holds strongly, the decision of the Ethics Committee to deem the Tema Youth unfit for the position of President for his public comments on radio about Ghana’s failure to qualify for Russia 2018 FIFA World Cup.

Palmer claimed if the GFA had paid €300,000 and gained €8,000,000 from participating at the world cup, he sees nothing wrong with it.

The CAS panel said someone aspiring to be GFA President should be of ‘ irreproachable behaviour’ and be full of ‘integrity.’

CAS final award noted, the comments shows he lacks the requisite integrity to be GFA President.

With this, they said they are satisfied that the Elections Committee had grounds to determine the non-eligibility of the appellant. “… a person desiring to represent the GFA as president should be of irreproachable behaviour and be of the high spectrum of norms and values including full integrity.”

Palmer’s argument that he was not punished by the Ethics Committee because they didn’t consider his comments veracious enough to merit a sanction does not validate integrity questions raised, Michelle’s panel ruled.

Kwaku Osei paid over $44,000, which included the arbitration costs of the GFA for the case to be heard. The panel concluded each party shall bear its own cost.

This means the GFA would pay Palmer about $22,000 for their cost he paid for.