By Mohamed Jaward Nyallay
Football stakeholders have expressed their satisfaction on the successful conclusion of the Ordinary Congress of the Sierra Leone Football Association (SLFA) that was held in Port Loko on Saturday. This is the first successful congress that the Isha Johansen administration has held since it was elected over six years ago.
On Saturday 47 delegates from teams and regions in the country gathered in Port Loko to deliberate on the new SLFA statute. The discussions were heated, thorough and sometimes chaotic, but the delegates in the room pulled through the more than five hours long meeting.
Alexander Gros, Senior Member Association Governance Manager from FIFA, said he was satisfied by the outcome despite the heated arguments.
“I understand it was the first congress in a long time, so a lot of people had a lot of things to say and that is normal. Even though there were few hot points and lively debates, in general it is good that the congress went right through the end. That is hugely positive,” Gros told journalists after the congress.
President of the SLFA, Isha Johansen, said she was extremely happy with the outcome.
“[The congress was] very exciting, very eventful, but at the end of the day very successful. I am extremely happy and proud of all the members,” she told the press.
Chairman of Old Edwardians Football Club, Emmanuel Saffa Abdulai, who has been very vocal in calling on the Johansen administration to organize a congress, said he was pleased that the association finally held one.
He said: “It was a good start after six years we got congress. We were able to discuss on the issues, vote on some of them, even though some of the issues were not discussed. As you know, we couldn’t complete the agenda. We got to number 12 and the president moved to give the vote of thanks.”
Saffa added: “This is what the stakeholders have said all along. Get us to congress and discuss the issues. This football is about all of us.”
This congress was held purposely to ratify the new SLFA statutes, but that was not done. Another point which was added to the agenda during the meeting was discussions on the suspension and expulsion of members.
Both items are expected to be on the next congress agenda which will be held in Kenema on January 31st to February 1st 2020 in Kenema.
Another congress where elections are supposed to be held will follow shortly, in April.
The FIFA representative said the congress ahead is even more important now.
“Now the congress in January is extremely important because it is the first step towards the elections. At that congress in January there will be a new electoral code that will be adopted, we will have to draft it with the SLFA. That will be the rules of the election, there will be an election committee and an electoral appeals committee. The members will vote on the people who will be the referees of the elections,” Gros said.
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