By Chernor Alimamy Kamara
President of the Sierra Leone Football Association (SLFA), Thomas Daddy Brima has reacted to Minister of Sports, Ibrahim Nyelenkeh’s action of selecting a technical delegation for the national team Leone Stars.
In a social media post as the national team prepares for the two legged ties against Sao Tome and Principe on the 22nd and 26th March, 2023 in Agadir, Morocco, Brima said the minister should understand that the association is not a different entity and that, the football federation belongs to Sierra Leone. He also informed the minister that the Federation belongs to the World Organizations that run football, noting that they are expected to comply with best practice as prescribed by FIFA and CAF.
“I have not seen before a minister selecting a technical team or delegation. He is supposed to be far above that, except otherwise,” he said.
He explained that, when the national team plays its home matches, it is the Federation that is responsible for match organization, in which he said the Director of Competitions, the media and the Secretariat Staff should be present.
“Not even a club team as big as Bo Rangers can organize a match with only one person,” said Brima.
According to the association president, he decided to buy tickets for relevant staff members to superintend the game to avoid any form of distraction.
He urged the minister to stop discouraging his staff, especially when they are doing their job whilst others, he said are paid for doing nothing. He said regardless, the team will qualify for AFCON.
The minister was heard on radio revealing the number of people in the delegation traveling to Morocco saying it is only in Sierra Leone people are asking for a delegation list whenever the national team is traveling out of the country for games.
He noted that international best practice only require publishing the names of players and the Head Coach to represent a national side. He said, they always publish the list to prove that the ministry is transparent and accountable to the people of the country.
“Since the issue of delegation has become a concern, I decided to take up the responsibility and ensure that it matches up to what people are anticipating,” he said.
Notwithstanding the concern Nyelenkeh stated that they cut down on those travelling due to the available limited resources. He pointed out that the delegation to Morocco comprises 25 selected players, 11 technical members instead of the usual 17, one independent journalist, four government officials and one SLFA representative.
He affirmed that Government will no longer pay for any SLFA executive and ex-co member for football matches, hence they should be using their subvention to fund their trips. He said the SLFA duplicates positions of their staff like the welfare/kit manager who all play the same role.
“So I decided to remove the welfare officer and bring in the kit manager and also reduce the Doctors from two to one,” he said.
Copyright © 2023 Politico (22/03/23)
