International Olympic Committee gives Ghana eight weeks to organize Congress

The International Olympic Committee (IOC) has tasked Ghana to organize her Congress to elect new executives for the Ghana Olympic Committee (GOC) within eight weeks.

Ghana can thus be free from the ban imposed on her by the IOC last January in a next few days and the GNA Sports can confirm that organizing a fresh Congress in the next few weeks ranks high on the global body’s roadmap for the country.

A meeting involving officials from the IOC, the government of Ghana and the GOC led by Mr Benson T. Baba held in Lausanne, Switzerland, according to a reliable source told GNA Sports that the international body instructed the latter to facilitate a Congress within the stipulated period.

The source said the IOC stressed that the ban imposed on Ghana will be lifted with the passage of the Sports Bill which was deemed as a strong requirement as it was near completion.

It said the meeting agreed that with the mandated body to lift the ban, the Emergency Committee of the IOC due to meet in December, the secretariat could liaise with the Committee for special dispensation for Ghana once the guidelines are followed.

The eight-week ultimatum is inclusive the day the ban is lifted plus the mandated 21 days of Congress notification to all Associations as stipulated in the GOC’s Constitution.

The IOC within its scope of authority will verify with the international bodies of local sporting Associations to ascertain their legality and standing concerning the status of the leaders elected during the feud that threw the activities of the GOC into the reverse gear.

The IOC is expected to supervise the process with all parties agreeing to work together in a constructive manner to benefit Ghana sports development.

Ghana was suspended following concerns with the country’s sports law, which the IOC found incompatible with the principles and rules of the Olympic Charter and what the global body deemed as a lack of commitment to revising the sports legislation before the end of 2010.

Source: GNA