By Mohamed Jaward Nyallay
Some members of the Sierra Leone Football Association (SLFA) have called on the world football governing body, FIFA to intervene in the standoff within their association.
Their call comes following a congress that was held by the SLFA in Kenema. The congress was meant to discuss and ratify the association’s budget and set up committees that would lead the association in to an elective congress this April.
The aggrieved members of the Association said the Kenema congress was “aborted” whiles the secretariat of the SLFA said it was “concluded” and was “successful”.
In a press conference on Friday, the aggrieved members highlighted series of irregularities that took place ahead of the congress, during and after.
Part of the statement which was read by Augustine Kambo, one of the aggrieved members, states: “The budget was rejected by majority of the delegates and in a skewed hand count, which was endorsed by the FIFA representative Solomon Modege, who by all intent and purposes was to observe the process.”
“The General Secretary counted observers as delegates, but could still not achieve the 50% + 1 simple majority,” the statement adds.
The members say the outcome of the congress was not binding on them and they called on FIFA to nullify the entire process.
“…as such, the entire process must be nullified by FIFA with immediate effect. The budget must not be considered as approved and the list of nominees must also be disregarded by FIFA,” the members declared.
Head of Media and Marketing at the SLFA, Ibrahim Kamara, denied the claims. He said all the congress set out to do was “achieved” and that it was voted for by the “majority”.
“We still stand by the outcome of the congress; this is because the decisions were reached by the majority of the delegates. When it came to the deliberation on the budget, they deliberated and majority of the members voted for it.”
Kamara said the same process was followed to approve the committees.
“It happened right in front of FIFA, right in front of the Chairman of the Parliamentary sports committee and other observers,” he added.
Members of the association have accused the SLFA of plotting to rig the upcoming elections in April.
Rodney Micheal is a prominent figure among the aggrieved members. He was prevented from attending the congress, because of claims by the FA that he was still under suspension. During the press conference he called on some of the members in the committees to “rethink their nomination and step down” to protect the swelling controversy around the process of their selection.
But SLFA’s Kamara denied accusations that the FA was planning to rig the election. He also reaffirmed the association’s stance that they would not reverse what has happened at congress in Kenema.
As things stand, both sides are firmly holding their grounds. There are no signs of negotiation or middle ground between the two parties since the congress ended last week Saturday.
Michael said there was no middle ground to solving “injustice”.
“Constitutionality and legality do not have a middle ground. Do we compromise injustice? No,” he told journalists.
Despite their complaints, a member of the aggrieved party, Kasho Holland- Cole, said they were not against the date set for elections.
“We are not against the date for elections, we want the date to stand. Because we on this side believe we can beat Isha Johansen in a free and fair election.”
The statement letter from the aggrieved members was addressed to Fatima Samoura, the Secretary General of FIFA.
Kambo said they haven’t given a deadline for FIFA to respond but that they hoped they would get a reply in the coming week. With the elective congress looming, the window for engagement is closing.
Aggrieved members say they are considering options like going to the Court of Arbitration for Sports and withdrawing their teams from the country’s top tier league, if FIFA and the SLFA didn’t listen to their calls.
