By Kemoh Sesay
President Ernest Bai Koroma has ordered for the formation of a seven-man committee ahead of the pending arrival of a FIFA delegation to Sierra Leone.
The directive came out of a meeting at State House on Wednesday which, according to sources, the president himself chaired.
The meeting brought together the two sides in the ongoing dispute plaguing football in the country since the election of Isha Johansen as President of the Sierra Leone Football Association (SLFA). Ms Johansen has been rejected by a group of aggrieved members who have since become known as the Football Stakeholders. The group, headed by veteran sports administrator Alhaji Unisa Alim Sesay, AKA Awoko, has since claimed control of the FA by setting up a parallel administration.
The dispute has over the years taken several dimensions, with the government at some point supporting Isha`s executive, alongside FIFA, and later supporting the Awoko faction. But the lately it appears more like the problem is between the FA and the Sports ministry which has since openly expressed support for the Awoko faction.
Several meetings have been held at State House over the issue.
Wednesday`s meet follows the arrival of a letter from FIFA which was a reply to an early correspondent from the office of the President requesting the world football governing body to visit the country once again as part of efforts to settle the dispute once and for all.
FIFA, in the letter, said it wanted to have a working group to meet with and discuss the eventual identification of the true representatives of Sierra Leone football.
FIFA says it has been in contact with both the Sports ministry and the Isha executive. And in its emailed letter addressed to the Secretary to the President, it added that it had been speaking with Ms Johansen about the plan for the meeting and its desire to see a final resolution to the situation.
“As stated in the enclosed FIFA letter addressed to the ministry of Sports, the main scope of the FIFA mission is to establish a working group composed of members agreeable to the different stakeholders and whose task would be to identify the delegates representing the SLFA members as listed in the SLFA constitution. The same was told to His Excellency, Dr Ernest Bai Koroma, during a phone call,” the letter reads in part.
FIFA did not give a specific date for the meeting but it suggested it may fall within the first half of September.
After the State House meeting, Awoko revealed to this press that the committee to be set up will comprise three members each from the SLFA and the Stakeholders (the aggrieved party), and one from the ministry of Sports.
He said the committee, referred to as Working Group by FIFA, would be charged with identifying the rightful stakeholders before the arrival of the FIFA delegation.
“We are ready to work with this committee to identify the rightful delegates in football,’’ Awoko said.
The SLFA declined to comment on the matter. Its Media and Marketing Officer, Abu Bakarr Kamara, said when contact by telephone: “We will not comment until State House issue out a press release to the public.”
But Kamara confirmed that they were represented at the State House meeting by the President Isha Johansen and three other members.
(C) Politico 13/08/15
