Concord Times (Freetown)
John Baimba Sesay
24 June 2009
Freetown — The Sierra Leone Football Association over the weekend conducted its Delegates' Congress in the eastern headquarter town of Kenema and I must hasten to inform you that being the first time for me to witness such an occasion, it was organized in a peaceful atmosphere.
The primary things discussed during the two-day congress were; an investigative report done by an auditing firm and the need to approve the budget for the operations of the FA for 2009-2012.
The venue of the congress being Kenema was well in place. The administration of the country should not be Freetown-based, and besides, the decision to choose Kenema as the venue for the congress completes 'a full circle of hosting the congress at all provincial headquarter towns', as indicated by JS Kelfala. Generally, Kenema is a fine place to visit; try it and prove me otherwise.
President's message
It was somehow intriguing to learn that the president for the SLFA, Nahim Khadi has been out of the country for over a year now on medical grounds, as he was reported to be sick. This in actual sense did not capture the attention of delegates, most of whom were concerned with looking at the investigative audit report prepared by Bun Tejan Doherty & Co. I learnt that if a president is incapacitated from doing his work, he could be removed from office. But the delegates have not seen this point and I think they need to act on that.
JS Kelfala is Acting President of the FA. In his statement, he said that they had converged in Kenema to reconcile with their 'dissatisfied brothers'. I wonder what he was trying to push at, mindful of the fact that elections were held two years back and thus, the talk of 'dissatisfied brothers' was uncalled for. I recently wrote that there was no need for division within the football family as that could be a recipe for the demise of the game of football in Sierra Leone.
In my opinion, the speech made by the Acting SLFA President, JS Kelfala was in itself self-indicting; to say that 'nobody will want to invest in a disunited business that is full of thieves and crooks' sounds alarming in actual sense.
Campism in football
The football family is still divided along camps and this should have been a thing of the past. Unfortunately, this seeming divide was very evident even in the way deliberations were conducted at the Holy Trinity Hall in Kenema by delegates. Honestly, I don't think fans of football are being treated fairly by some of our delegates. Most of them seemed to put parochial interests above that of the growth of football.
The division within the game of football was re-echoed by even JS Kelfala who called on those he perceived as 'dissatisfied brothers' to 'come on board and serve as advisers...' as the FA is 'prepared to listen to them' in order to develop football. I wonder whether this is the time for that, when elections were conducted almost two years back.
Serious issues are meant to be discussed in the most serious and frank of manner. Representatives of various clubs in the country converged in Kenema, some with a fixed mindset and so irrespective of what others thought to be relevant, that was not the case with them. Generally the way some issues pertaining to the development of football were discussed did not match the enthusiasm that the nation has in terms of wanting to see the growth of football in the country. This was primarily as a result of the division among the delegates.
Investigative audit
The SLFA in its 2008 Congress resolved that there was need to conduct an investigative audit on the accounts of the SLFA within the period 2002-2006. This investigative report was conducted by Bun Tejan Doherty & Co and findings of the team may call for further action. The audit report shows that 'there was lack of documentation, withdrawal from bank accounts were not supported by payment vouchers. Large sums of monies were not accounted for...'
It even reports about sums of money given by FIFA to the FA for the purchase of buses in 2002 but that 'there were no records indicating that the buses were purchased and they could also not be physically verified during the audit'. Well, I honestly do not hold brief for Tolla Thompson and his executive but I am of the opinion that they did well in a way, regarding the management for football during their tenure. One achievement that could be tied to Tolla and his executive is the Football Academy and even the Artificial Turf project. The structures are there for all to see; Tolla may have his human errors but we should at times attempt to look at what he did for football in this country.
The investigative report also did look at the area of clubs not meeting their financial obligations to the FA. Most, if not all the clubs were not honoring their financial obligations to the Association to facilitate settlement of administrative and operational costs and this may cost the FA hundreds of millions of Leones.
Club representatives were bent on ridiculing the FA executive, forgetting to realize that they too are to blame for the lapse in football administration in the country over the years. You cannot run an effective FA if the needed funds are not there. Alimu Bah and others must be trying their best in developing football but if they are not given the needed support, it won't work, definitely
Decentralizing football
The Resident Minister East, William Juana Smith was right in his words that football brings money for a country and at the same time, ensures job creation, especially for professionals; the case of Mohamed Kallon being an example. W.L. Smith claims government is serious about football. I look forward to seeing that seriousness being put into practice and not just in theory. This is so because even the Mayor for the city of Kenema, Chief Brima Kargbo has suggested the need to decentralize football in the country.
The FA should begin to think of reviewing its constitution. Freetown is not Sierra Leone and thus, should not be seen as the only place for football in the country; least we forget there are football talents in the provinces but we have failed to see their performance since, from the look of things, the game of football is mainly managed here in Freetown.
Bravo FA Secretariat
The SLFA Secretariat must be commended for conducting a peaceful Delegates' Congress for the good of football in the country. The area of accommodation was well handled and this was due to the effective and adequate preparation that was done by the Secretariat, headed by Alimu Bah.
The delegates have decided they have taken decisions which are meant for the growth of football and I am of the view that what they have decided upon may not be left unattended to. See them in Bonthe District for the next Delegates' Congress in December.
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