By Mohamed Jaward Nyallay
Members of the Sierra Leone Football Association (SLFA) have agreed at its just concluded ordinary congress on Saturday to give Karene and Falaba districts voting rights. The decision was taken at a very closely tight vote by delegates to determine whether they should be given right to vote or not.
Karene and Falaba were established over two years ago as part of the de-amalgamation process by the National Electoral Commission, ahead of the 2018 general elections.
Delegates present at the meeting in Port Loko were unanimous in admitting the two new districts into the fold of the FA, including the North-West region. They were however split on whether to allow them to vote in the upcoming elective congress in April, 2020.
Lambert Sesay, a delegate said members from Karene and Falaba could not be added because this would alter the delegate list which had been certified by FIFA.
Emmanuel Saffa Abdulai, another delegate, reechoed the same concern.
“If we give them voting right, we are going to have all sorts of problems. We are going to have people fighting each other to keep these positions just to get to the elective congress. Let us establish the structures that they need,” Saffa said.
The FIFA representative who was present at the meeting, Alexander Gros, had to pitch in. He said even though they (FIFA) were the ones who prepared the road map and certified the delegate list, they would not be averse to the idea of adding these new members on the list if the congress agreed.
Delegates who were advocating for the two new districts to get voting right were referencing the SLFA constitution which gives right to members to start voting as soon as they are admitted into the association.
After bitter arguments, a vote was called. The first vote was chaotic after some delegates protested that the affected parties (Karene and Falaba) should not be part of the vote. So, a second vote had to be called.
Those backing Karene and Falaba got their way after they won 26 out of the 47 votes in the hall.
After the vote, a representative from Karene District Football Association, Abdulai Kamara, told Politico how much the decision meant to them.
“It’s historic, we are happy. I believe all stakeholders including our MPs, Paramount chiefs and the people will welcome the news that we have joined the football family,” he said.
Kamara said at least they would have two votes considering the fact that they didn’t have a division one team yet. However, he said the district already had existing football structures contrary to the widely held belief that they would be starting from scratch.
“I want people to know that Karene District came from Bombali and Port Loko districts, meaning they were structures. Eight chiefdoms from Bombali District and five chiefdoms from Port Loko. There were teams, there were referees, there were female football teams. Before now we even had Division Two teams. Some were participating in Bombali whiles the others were participating in Port Loko,” he said.
The votes from these two new districts and the new North-West region are now up for grabs by different candidates who will want to vie for the Presidency of the SLFA in April.
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