Many of the Innovations We Introduced Have Become Industry Standard — Sannie Daara on Transforming GFA Communications

Former Ghana Football Association communications director Ibrahim Sannie Daara has revealed how he built the federation’s communications department from scratch, introducing systems and practices he learned during his years at the BBC.

Speaking on Kafui Dey’s interview show, Sannie Daara said one of his proudest achievements after returning from the United Kingdom was helping to modernise communications at the Ghana Football Association (GFA).

After spending eight years at the BBC, Sannie Daara returned to Ghana in 2011 following persistent invitations from then GFA Communications Director Randy Abbey and GFA President Kwesi Nyantakyi to join the federation.

He subsequently took up the roles of Communications Director and Deputy General Secretary.

Reflecting on his time at the GFA, Sannie Daara said his first task was creating a communications structure that did not previously exist.

“First of all, setting up a department. They didn’t have a department at all,” he said.

According to him, the federation’s communication systems were largely undeveloped at the time, prompting him to introduce strategies and workflows he had observed while working for international media organisations.

“The website as it is today was completely hatched by me,” he said.

“The same team that built GhanaSoccernet built the GFA website.”

Sannie Daara explained that he drew heavily from his BBC experience to create a more efficient way of engaging the media.

One of the innovations he introduced was recording interviews and distributing them simultaneously to multiple media outlets rather than granting separate interviews to individual stations.

“I observed how the World Rugby Union would send interviews to the BBC to use, so I did the same,” he said.

“If we had anything to communicate to the media, instead of dealing with one radio station after another, I would record the interview and distribute it.”

He said the approach significantly improved efficiency at a time when Ghana’s media landscape was rapidly expanding.

“The media was expanding, so we introduced a lot of things that have now become standard practice in the industry today,” he noted.

Sannie Daara said his years at the GFA reinforced the importance of leadership, teamwork and institutional development.

He credited former GFA President Kwesi Nyantakyi for demonstrating an inclusive leadership style that left a lasting impression on him.

“I learned a lot from Kwesi Nyantakyi,” he said.

“Even though he was president, he dealt with people as if they were his colleagues. You could walk into his office anytime.”

The former communications director also reflected on one of the few regrets of his tenure, admitting that he was sometimes overly aggressive in responding to public criticism directed at the federation.

He singled out a disagreement with former Sports Minister Nii Lante Vanderpuye as a situation he would have handled differently.

“I think in some of my public statements I went a little bit far,” he admitted.

“Not because I was wrong in responding, but because he was one of the people who helped me in my career.”

Despite that regret, Sannie Daara said his overall focus at the GFA was to leave behind systems that would outlive his tenure.

“Many of the innovations we introduced have now become standard practice across the industry,” he said.