By Mohamed Jaward Nyallay
The owner of Dohas Hotel, Saleh Yahya, has taken the Sierra Leone Football Association (SLFA) to court over unpaid hotel bill. The hotel hosted players and officials during the WAFU Women’s tournament in Bo in February this year.
The tournament saw eight teams across the sub region take part; four of those teams: Sierra Leone, Cape Verde, Senegal and Guinea were hosted at the hotel.
Mr Yahya’s lawyer, Banja Tejan Sie, told Politico in a brief telephone interview that they had a “default judgement” by the court last week because lawyers for the FA didn’t show up.
It is not clear what the motion that was present by Yahya’s lawyer and the specifics of the default judgement, as Mr Sie was reluctant to talk to Politico. But the hotel owner, who is owed more than Le100 million, according to the lawyer, could end up seizing properties owned by the SLFA and auction them to recover the cash.
We understand that Yahya has received two instalment of payments, but that it is still owed Le170 million.
And Dohas is not the only hotel that is owed by the organizers, in the Northern city of Makeni, Wusum Hotel and Sahara Hotel were also used to host players and officials.
Officials of Wusum Hotel were contacted to see whether they will also resort to taking legal action. An official who preferred anonymity said: “We would not shut down the door on our customers. Even yesterday they’ve spoken to us and we know they will pay us. There is no indication yet that they won’t pay us because we have documents in place.”
On Friday evening, Head of Media at the FA, Ibrahim Kamara, denied rumours on social media that any of the FA’s properties has been seized. In an interview with Politico, Kamara said the debt is owed by WAFU and that they would be paying the hotels very soon.
“We will pay them soon. We have spoken to them that we will soon get their money and pay. We have paid some of it before now and spoken to them to be patient with us. This is not even our debt, but WAFU’s. But we understand the fact that we were the organizers,” Kamara said.
The WAFU tournament is supported by the West Africa Football Union itself. The expenses they take on include transportation, air ticket, hotel bills and more. Member countries are only responsible to provide allowances for their players, Head of the local organizing committee at the SLFA, Rod Mac Johnson, explained to Politico in February.
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