Following last Tuesday's bombshell by the various Sports associations to pull out of next month's Commonwealth Games in New Delhi, India, on account of an apparent shabby treatment by the Ghana Olympic Committee (GOC), the body has also taken a major step to solve the GOC impasse and the raging storm in Ghana's top sporting hierarchy. Indeed, that major step had been taken a day earlier by the association before it got wind of news that its list for the games had been side-stepped by the GOC 1 or the international GOC headed by ex-prisons officer, B.T. Baba, replacing it with its own list. A five-member 'peace keeping' committee chaired by one-time Environment Minister, Sam Pee Yalley, has been tasked by all the newly-elected sports association members in line with the new roadmap directed by the International Olympic Committee (IOC), to meet with officials of the IOC to find a lasting solution to the GOC saga. Sam Pee Yalley and his team made up of Rev. Adjah Cofie of the Disabled Sports, Chief Superintended J. N. A. Aryetey (SESSSA), Col Sharpe (rtd) (kick boxing) and Ken Arthur (Judo) are to meet with both Baba and heads of GOC 2 or Local GOC headed by ex-national athlete, Professor Francis Dodoo, to put an end to the problem which includes the possibility of organising fresh elections. But according to Mr Yalley, the committee will have to dissolve the Francis Dodoo-led administration as a first step of sanitising the body and presenting a unitary and acceptable one that will seek the interest of Ghana sports on the international stage. According to the directives by the IOC in resolving Ghana's power struggle in the GOC, all the sports associations under the National Sports Council (NSC) are to be democratically elected after which Mr Baba and his team will have to call for congress for fresh elections to be held. The first criterion seems to have been met following elections held by 32 out of 34 sports associations but it appears the electoral process is still being contested by Mr Baba and his team. Mr Yalley and his team are expected to broker a lasting peace and to unlock what has been fueling the factionalism and the fascism within the GOC ahead of major elections. The associations have been worried by the recent accreditation problems and the criteria for selecting athletes to represent Ghana at major competitions. Recent alleged smuggling of two swimmers by the GOC 1 and the failure to accredit some officials, especially those from the NSC tagged as government officials at the Youth Olympic in Singapore, have further raised fear among the sports associations that they could be frustrated at the New Delhi Games. Their boycott at the Commonwealth Games appeared irrevocable following the rectification of the decision with individual signatures at a meeting yesterday. The association chairmen and their vice met last Tuesday at the Accra Sports Stadium to take the decision urging the government and the Ghana High Commissioner in New Delhi to ensure that no one is smuggled to compete under the flag of Ghana at the games. Source: Daily Graphic