By Chernor Alimamy Kamara
Parliament has summoned the heads of the main bodies supervising football in Sierra Leone to discuss matters related to a recent friendly between the national football team Leone Stars and the second string side of the Algerian national team in Dubai.
Minister of Sports, Ibrahim Nyelenkeh, National Sports Authority (NSA) Executive Director, Kenneth Brima, SLFA Secretary General, Chris Kamara, and President, Thomas Daddy Brima are due to appear before the Committee on Sports on the 30th November, 2022.
The parliamentary committee requested the invited football authorities to submit a full list of the 51 (fifty-one) man delegation that travelled to Dubai and to indicate their respective roles. They also urged the NSA to submit the total amount of money that was disbursed by the government for the said Dubai trip. Parliament also requested “receipts and all supporting documents on the team’s expenditures for the trip”.
The friendly match in question which Leone Stars lost 3 – 0 was dogged by controversy as social media commentators accused the authorities of smuggling the team out of the country by refusing to provide the same details of the trip that are now the subject of the parliamentary inquiry.
On a popular sport forum, the SLFA president said his organization’s books were open and welcomed the call by the Sports Writers Association of Sierra Leone (SWASAL) for the Anti-Corruption Commission to investigate this Dubai friendly match.
Thomas Daddy Brima said the SLFA presented a budget that was approved by both the NSA and Ministry of Sports and that the Ministry of Sport will account for the funds since they are always around to monitor spending.
Brima said friendly matches “are not tournaments, but games organized for teams to understand their players, especially the new call ups”.
He said the idea behind their travels is to allow the team to prepare well to qualify for the Africa Cup of Nations (AFCON), noting that it was the goal from which no one will distract him.
Copyright © Politico Online (23/11/22)
