By Zainab Joaque
Secretary General of Sierra Leone Football Association (SLFA) Abdul Rahman Swarray yesterday told Politico that three members from football governing bodies, FIFA and CAF, are due in Freetown to help review the weak and loose constitution of a beleaguered association.
The team, which comprises Abega Prosper and Salomé Stähli as legal persons and Primo Covaro from the FIFA member associations' department in Switzerland, is expected on Friday 9, March 2012 for a two-day job in Sierra Leone.
Amidst a racial controversy that surrounded the said elective congress of the country's football association, FIFA had asked that a roadmap be designed ahead of the conduct of the next election as a first step measure.
"They wrote to us asking if we needed help in harmonizing our constitution, with specific reference to who has the right to contest for the presidency of SLFA. We gladly accepted the goodwill gesture," said Swarray.
According to him the official mandate of the current executive ends in July this year and after that a date would be set aside for the election.
He maintained that only the executive committee has the right to fix a date and place of the congress, adding that "members shall be notified in writing at least thirty days in advance, as contained in Article 26 (2) of the FA's constitution." He further stated that the ordinary congress, which is scheduled for April, is purely for amendment or adoption of statutes, which would be worked on by the team of experts in collaboration with the constitutional review committee of the FA.
"The team has also asked that if there is a need for them to present during the congress to help explain to stakeholders the harmonization process of the constitution in line with member associations, they would oblige to attend," he said. Article 29, which deals with Amendments to the Statutes, states that: "the congress is responsible for amending the statutes, and, the regulations governing the application of the statutes and the standing orders of the congress." The FA committee constitutes of Alhaji Unisa Alim Sesay as chairman, Sorie Ibrahim Sesay as secretary; other members include Solomon Kapindi Jamiru, Lansana Kortor Kamara and Foday Turay.
