IT is really surprising that many sporting authorities tend to complain about their superiors running the affairs of the various sports federations and umbrella bodies and yet keep voting for them to stay in office.

Last weekend, the same situation happened again when Namibia National Olympic (NNOC) president Agnes Tjongarero was re-elected for another term despite calls for her to go.

Many sporting codes had their knives out for the 'Iron Lady' before the election, yet they decided to put their faith in her again for the next four years.

How surprising.

I personally also felt that it was time for Tjongarero to give way because she has done her bit, but if she has the backing of the federations, who am I to oust her? I also had a strong feeling that her challenger, Kelly Nghixulifwa, would become the new president, but he was ultimately left in the dark as his backers turned to Tjongarero.

He lost by nine votes and one questions the credibility and honesty of some of these sporting authorities who earlier vowed to back him.

Nghixulifwa decided to run after receiving a surprise nomination, only to be left stranded at the Hage Geingob Stadium with no one to support his cause to the presidency.

Shame.

The logical conclusion is that he was betrayed by his backers and only they know why.

Elections over the years on many sporting fronts have been marred by allegations of bribery and back-stabbing at the last minute.

That is unfortunately the legacy which has deeply rooted itself in Namibian sporting circles.

It's a corrupt practice to say the least and to me democracy is not alive in sports when it comes to elections.

Elections are just useless.

In athletics, Alpha Kangueehi claims that he had a casting vote after a tie with Frank Fredericks; Bucks Bock is now challenged legally by some affiliates after he was elected Namibia Rugby Union (NRU) president.

Both these elections were held last month and the controversy is still ongoing.

In 2006, Hendrik Dawids argued that the Namibia Football Association (NFA) rigged the elections to help John Muinjo to become the new president after Judge Petrus Damaseb stepped down.

In netball, Carol //Garoës still rules and has had no opposition for years, while the sport has not made any impact on the international scene.

Basketball, once flourishing, has died a natural death as the ones elected are non-existent.

There are many others and the lack of leadership has killed the many talents of our athletes.

My argument would be that the Namibia Sport Commission (NSC) be given more powers to select the presidents of sports federations and associations.

It might sound impractical to some, but it would be a good system to keep at bay the power-hungry officials, who have formed unbreakable cartels with the aim of serving their own interests.

It could be as simple as this: Federations or codes should submit three names of their preferred presidential candidates and the NSC, with the help of independent experts on various fronts, interviews the candidates.

The candidates should be put through a thorough test and must make presentations on why they want to be selected as presidents of these organisations.

The federations should after the appointment of the president, of which the vice president will be the second best candidate, propose their preferred executive members.

They too must be put to the test.

The treasurer post should be advertised for anybody to vie for it.

Only a certain number of executive members must serve for all codes.

Terms of office should only be two years, including those of the president and his deputy.

If they do well after two years, the federations can either propose to the NSC to keep them or ask the NSC to take in new members.

I know that some codes are bigger and claim to have more than two vice presidents, but the smaller the executive and staff at the office, the more efficient.

I know this will never happen, but it is just a thought.