Osei Kyei-Mensah-Bonsu, the majority leader in Parliament, has advocated for sports betting to be regulated in order to sustain Ghanaian football.
He believes that betting is ruining the game and that it will only become worse until something is done to stop it.
The Member of Parliament for Suame Constituency, Kyei-Mensah-Bonsu, declared that something had to be done to rescue the sport in Ghana.
“Bets on the game are “in fact ruining our game,” says the narrator. When someone attempts to alter the outcomes of a game even before it has even begun, it’s a severe problem that requires an urgent remedy,” he said on Akoma FM.
“In all the African nations I’ve visited, I’ve never seen anything like this.” In the future, if care is not exercised, the game will be wiped out.
“I feel there should be rigorous rules or methods to assist us to govern it correctly so we don’t misuse or damage the game completely if we allow (betting) in our games.”
Following a series of questionable refereeing decisions in Ghana, match-fixing accusations were rife in the Ghana Premier League last season.
Alhaji Akanbi, a member of Hearts of Oak’s Board of Directors, recently claimed that certain betting syndicates were ruining the local game.
Ashanti Gold and Inter Allies had a high-scoring game on matchday 34 of the Ghana Premier League in 2020/21, which sparked concerns.
The Disciplinary Committee of the Ghana Football Association (GFA) later judged both clubs guilty of match tampering and downgraded them to Division Two League status.