By Kemoh Sesay
A group of football administrators of Sierra Leone Premier League clubs, calling itself “the aggrieved delegates” say their clubs will not take part in any Premier League if the new SLFA executive refuses to sack two members of its staff, the General Secretary and the Public Relations Officer.
They say they “reserve the right to take SLFA to court should they try to do anything outside the provisions of the Constitution…SLFA is a company limited by guarantee owned by the membership. The present core of aggrieved delegates makes up the majority which is about 70%. Even the worst dictator would want to consider this factor than do otherwise”.
In a press release issued by their head of media, Sirajin Rollings-Kamara, the group said despite the efforts of president Koroma to “resolve the issue for the good of the game and country”, the SLFA executive “never made overtures until the chairman of the Premier League Board summoned a meeting of premier league clubs at which they showed up to meet with us”.
According to the release, the SLFA’s argument that sacking Abdul Rahman Swaray and Sorie Ibrahim Sesay will lead to court action against the organization is untenable. The aggrieved delegates referred to the sacking of “16 persons perceived to be supporters of either Rodney Michael or Mohamed Kallon” and the “the third most senior staff in the Secretariat, the technical Director” by the same executive to demonstrate that they acted in bad faith.
The aggrieved delegates also dismissed as “absurd, unfounded and untrue”, statements made by SLFA president Isha Johansen in a BBC interview in which she allegedly described them as “old guards” resisting change and the premier league would start re-start soon.
We contacted the SLFA president Isha Johansen by phone for her reaction but she sent a text message asking us to direct our enquiries to General Secretary Abdul Rahman Swaray. We called Swaray repeatedly but he didn’t take our calls.
(C) Politico 10/09/13
