Crisis is looming in RTU as majority of the club’s youthful supporters are against an arrangement by a section of the Board of Directors to hand over the club to Wienco- the club’s sole sponsor.
The arrangement will allow Wienco, who is reported to have decided to pump in GH¢200,000, to take over management of the club and appoint its own executives. The supporters see this arrangement as the machinations of three Board members (the trio) who want to entrench themselves in the club after being at the helm of affairs for 14 years without chalking any appreciable progress.
The supporters, who represent the club’s eight supporters channels, spoke on condition of anonymity. They consider the move by the Board members in question, as inimical to the spirit and tradition of the club.
The Spokesman of the supporters said: “As much as we appreciate Wienco’s invaluable support to the club, we see no reason why it should allow itself to be influenced by people who are seeking for their selfish interests. Wienco’s decision is based on a proposal solely developed by Jones Alhassan -Abu without the input of members of the Board or even management”.
He added: “Ironically, Jones proposed himself and Adam Munkaila (Admun) as Accra representative and chief executive respectively. What greed! And Wienco accepted it without question”.
According to the supporters, they were not entirely surprised by the machinations of the Board members in question. He said: “These three Board members, who are close to Wienco, feel that the club is their birthright. One of them acted as the chairman of the Management Committee and managed the club for 14 years without any concrete achievement”.
Consequently, the Spokesperson said, the Board decided to reorganize the club to befit its professional status by appointing a substantive Chief Executive who would appoint his management team and operate it as a conventional corporate entity limited by shares.
To the chagrin of some members of the previous management and its Chairman, Malik Jabir- of Kotoko fame -was appointed the Chief Executive of the club and given the mandate to form his management team. Hardly had Malik settled down than some elements in the previous management mounted a campaign of calumny and whipped up discriminatory sentiments to remove him.
The Spokesman said: “Their reason was that it was not appropriate for a ‘Kotoko man’ to handle RTU because his loyalty could not be counted on. But the truth was that, with Malik at post, the trio would not be able to enjoy the bonanza they used to, when they were at the helm of affairs. They had a field day benefiting from the transfer of players and other moneys accruing to the club”.
The machinations of the trio paid off when the Board Chairman, Lepowura Alhaji Jawula -given his assignment with the local organising committee of the Can 2008 tournament in Ghana- temporarily handed over the Chairmanship of the Board to Mr. Ibrahim Adam.
“With Ibrahim Adam as acting chairman, the trio took advantage and convened a so-called Board meeting attended by themselves and one other person in Tamale and fired Malik unceremoniously.
The Spokesman added that this singular action incensed some of the supporters who had earlier on, agitated for the change of guard. Having gauged supporters’ reaction to their act, and found it unfavourable, the trio decided to maintain the management team that Malik left behind in order to cool tempers. Ibrahim Adam asked the team to act as an interim one and gave them the mandate to manage the club in November, 2008.
The Interim Management Committee (IMC) was made up of prominent personalities who were achievers in their own rights. Some were heads of departments and non-governmental organizations and the others were successful businessmen. They nominated Abdallah Kassim, a seasoned journalist and development communication practitioner as the Chairman.
By the middle of the league, one of the trio had become apprehensive of the success path that the IMC was beating and set in motion a plot to frustrate the IMC and sabotage the club. They used diverse means, including employing the services of witchdoctors, to weaken the playing team and emasculating the club financially, just to discredit the IMC to enable them take over.
According to the Spokesman, at a point, one of them “borrowed” $32,000 from the club’s so-called Board’s account, thereby depriving the team of funds when it needed it most. Paradoxically the trio is part of the signatories to the Board’s account. On many occasions the IMC had to go cup in hand, literally begging them for funds to run the club.
This plot led to the resignation of two resourceful members of the IMC who foresaw the calamity that was about to befall the club.
The trio’s grand design began to pay off, towards the end of the league when RTU was reeling at the bottom half of the league table, threatened by relegation. The trio, dressed in the proverbial wolf skin, portrayed themselves as messiahs out to salvage the club. But the truth was that, the trio plotted to sink the club.
The Spokesman said one of the trio is responsible for sending out invitations to Board meetings. The game plan was to portray him as incompetent at the Board’s meeting of Wednesday, July 31st, 2008, and oust him like they did to Malik. So the IMC chairman was not invited to the meeting even though convention demands that the Chair submits his end of season report at the said meeting.
However, he got wind of the meeting and attended. They had prepared the grounds for his removal. But other discerning, level headed members of the Board approached issues candidly. Eventually, the IMC Chair survived the Board meeting with a few criticisms and was asked to carry on with the management of the club with his team.
The trio did not give up. Based on the recommendations of the IMC’s end of season report, the sponsor, Wienco, decided to increase its monthly grant to the club from GH¢7,500 to GH¢12,500 and offer GH¢200,000 for the recruitment of seasoned and mature players for the coming soccer season.
The Spokesman said information reaching him has it that by the time the Board met to discuss the proposal which Wienco was privy to, on 20th September, , non of the Board members, including Lepowura Jawula,had seen or read it. Only four members attended including Lepowura Jawula.
“In effect what we are saying is that, yes we appreciate Wienco’s concern but let it behave like Tigo and MTN are doing for Kotoko and Hearts of Oak respectively. Wienco can demand accountability but it should not interfere. Let Wienco put in the money and challenge the present IMC. After all, Wienco’s action is based on the recommendations of the IMC. If they were not capable would Wienco have followed their recommendations? RTU, like Kotoko’ is a traditional pride, the symbol of the north, Make it businesslike but it should not be over adulterated in the name of modernism”.
