By Mohamed Jaward Nyallay
The Sierra Leone Football Association has said that they have not postponed or cancelled their elective congress amidst looming fears about the Coronavirus.
In an interview with Politico on Thursday, the Head of Media at the FA, Ibrahim Kamara, said they would assess the situation once the date for the congress gets closer.
The elective congress is set to hold on April 18th this year, 29 days from now.
“We have not cancelled or postponed congress. We are still working towards holding the congress. We cannot cancel what is happening next month because of what is happening this month,” Kamara said.
Despite his comments about their preparations, he said they would not rule out cancelling the congress but that would depend on whether the situation improves.
The FA is still at loggerheads with some of its members over procedural “irregularities” during the last congress.
Ibrahim Mago Tarwally, a member of the FA, told Politico that he didn’t think the SLFA are on the right footing to go on with the congress.
“It is a surprise that they are even considering going ahead with the congress. I am not sure if the electoral bodies have even been given mandate to work, because by now they would have called for nominations,” he said.
“We have guidelines and we will continue to point to that,” he added.
On the Coronavirus, Tarawally said it made much more sense for the FA to cancel the congress now because of the move by others to do the same.
“If the Ministry of Sports has issued a notice banning all sports related activities and even the SLFA has done so, then I don’t know… They (SLFA) have the right to (hold congress) do so. They are in charge. But I believe the Corona is enough reason to cancel the congress.”
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