Former Ghana Football Association (GFA) President Kwesi Nyantakyi has categorically rejected longstanding allegations that he boasted of having the country’s president “in his pocket,” labeling the claim a fabricated attempt to discredit him.
The accusation surfaced in the lead-up to investigative journalist Anas Aremeyaw Anas’s 2018 Number 12 exposé on corruption in Ghanaian football.
In an interview with JoyNews, Nyantakyi insisted: “I never said the president was in my pocket, I never said that anywhere.”
He argued the phrase gained traction despite its falsehood: “That allegation has gained so much notoriety that it will be illogical for me to even stand up to contradict it.”
Nyantakyi described it as “the figment of somebody’s imagination just to discredit me and let me look very bad in the eyes of the public, and they succeeded.”
The Number 12 documentary captured Nyantakyi accepting $65,000 from undercover journalists and discussing potential influence over political figures for business gains.
The fallout led to his June 2018 resignation from GFA, CAF, and FIFA roles, followed by a FIFA lifetime ban in October 2018—later reduced to 15 years.
Nyantakyi, who also served as 1st CAF Vice President, maintains the specific “pocket” remark was invented to amplify damage to his reputation.
