SLFA threatened with court action

By Zainab Joaque

A law firm in Freetown, Tejan Cole, Yillah & Bangura has instructed the Sierra Leone Football Association to pay the sum of Le44,800,000 (Forty-Four million eight hundred thousand Leones) owed to two medical practitioners within 72 hours or be dragged to court to recover the money.

Writing on behalf of their clients Dr. Baimba Rogers and Dr. Ibrahim Bob Swaray, the lawyers said, SLFA General Secretary Chris Kamara, on the 26^th June 2014, requested the doctors to do a pre-tournament medical appraisal for the national Under 17 team and both parties agreed that the cost of the medical examination per player would be Le 1,400,000 and that 32 players were examined.

The letter notes further that "...after the examination of the players, you were told to do further MRI bone scan and laboratory test at ECOMED and results were to be forwarded to them. That for two weeks they tried contacting you for the MRI bone scan and laboratory results but you never picked their calls. It was only on the 21^st of July 2014 that these results were forwarded to our clients. That the medical forms for all 32 players were completed by the 25^th July 2014 and you Chris Kamara were informed about their completion but have refused to collect the said medical forms…"

The lawyers instructed Kamara to collect all the medical forms prepared by the doctors at their chambers within 72 hours, warning that should he fail to comply with the time prescribed, they will be left with alternative but to institute both criminal and civil proceedings against him for recovery of damages and costs.

But the SLFA General Secretary said he has had discussions with the lawyers who have agreed to meet their clients again to discuss the way forward.

Kamara said, "we received an invoice from Choithram not from the doctors. They sent the template of an invoice to me and I told them that this is not the way it works as it should be an institutional document following which an invoice from Choithram was forwarded to us and we have paid."

(C) Politico 14/10/14