Banjul — As the clock ticks towards the next the Gambia Football Association Congress on December 31, 2009, the above is definitely one of the questions currently revolving in the minds of critical observers.

However, when elected officials seek a second four-year term, it is appropriate for voters to set the bar higher than for the first one. The good news for the incumbent Gambia Football Association Executive Committee is that its president, Seedy Buwa Kinteh, set his own standards higher during his first term, and met most of them. Kinteh, who has been a football fanatic all his life, is a president at the top of his game and I recommend his reelection in the up-coming Congress.

In view of the recent poor performance of our National U-17 team in the 2009 FIFA U-17 World Cup in Nigeria, a lot of provisional discourse has emerged as to what circumstances prevailed. Many critics, including my humble self, scolded the Seedy Kinteh-led Executive Committee for the Nigeria flop, and I was very glad that Kinteh and his team ate the humble pie and readily conceded that they erred for to err is human. Despite accepting the blame however, I am still of the strong conviction that Kinteh?s extreme critics will still be banging on the Nigeria setback as the campaign tool for next month?s Congress, albeit they will have no point in doing so. Critics may have the right to condemn the present Executive without trial, but not to the point that all the achievements over the past years go unnoticed.

Firstly, we must recall that in the past four (4) years of Seedy Kinteh?s stewardship, Gambian teams qualified and played, with pride and honour, in four (4) FIFA/CAF competitions - a welcome boost for our football development and one that deserves respect in every way. After clinching the coveted bronze medal in the CAF U-20 African Nations Cup in Congo Brazzaville in 2007, the Gambia U-20 team proceeded to the FIFA U-20 World Cup in Canada later in the same year where they proved the skeptics wrong by going past the first round.

In March 2009, the Baby Scorpions also clinched their second CAF U-17 African Nations Cup title in Algeria on their road to their second appearance in the FIFA U-17 World Cup in Nigeria 2009. These hard-fought achievements under Seedy Kinteh?s first-term tenure were hugely celebrated by all and sundry, even though it took many years of delicate planning, hard work and self-sacrifice by Seedy Kinteh and his team.

In the just concluded joint qualifiers for a place in the 2010 World Cup in South Africa, Gambia Scorpions put their name on a par with their better-known neighbours Senegal after finishing ahead of the 2002 World Cup quarter-finalists in their group with eight (8) points ? the maximum points the Scorpions have ever gathered in a World Cup qualifiers.

The Gambia narrowly missed out on a place for the second round of qualifiers, but our efforts were indirectly rewarded when we jumped into the top 100 on the FIFA/Coca-Cola World Rankings. It was the first time the Scorpions have ventured into double figures on the world ladder, their previous best having been the 101st position they achieved in the Septembers of 1994 and 1995.

In the past four years also, woman football in the country has experienced a remarkable upturn. An official women's championship has been organised for the past years and this success story in our female football was capped with the establishment of the nation?s first-ever National female team in 2008. Also under his four-year leadership, the structure of Gambian football was modernized in every way. The construction of an impressive technical training centre in Yundum was capped with the completion of a state-of-the-art three storey building in Kanifing, which now houses the headquarters of the Gambia Football Association.

The present Executive Committee can also boast of a regional headquarters in Mansakonko (a lucid testimony of their tireless effort in decentralising football in the country). The Gambia can also boast of their first-ever artificial turf constructed at the Brikama Box Bar mini-stadium in Western Region. If we take a brief reflection on the past four years, all genuine Gambia football stakeholders will agree that Seedy Kinteh deserves nothing but to be re-elected for a second term.

The national club delegates at the December Congress must not only make this wish come true, but should do so in figures that will suggest that they pay no heed to the flimsy reproaches and accusations leveled against the incumbent Executive Committee by myopic elements who cannot do any good for our football. Besides, Kinteh has also served in less illustrious positions as part of previous Executive Committees with much determination and commitment. Consequently, I would expect the club delegates to also concentrate on Kinteh?s record and experience stretching over 15 years more intently than the past four years.

They should reward him by voting for him not only for his ability to manage crises but also for his enduring efforts to strengthen football at grass-roots level and to modernise its structure in every way. While I have no doubt that Kinteh?s commitment to Gambia football development will be rewarded come next month?s Congress, I will however be wrong to say that he will have a smooth second term in office if certain things are not implemented. The restructuring of the present GFA secretariat should top Kinteh?s priorities in his second term.

The appointment of a competent Media Officer will not only help the media to easily access information from the Gambia football house but will also strengthen GFA-Media relations. There is also a great need to appoint an assistant secretary general and an administrative officer, which any fully established Football Association should have.

During his second term in office, I will also expect Seedy Kinteh to part company with some of his followers who work for their self interest rather than the public interest. In a nutshell, he must bring in competent people who will see themselves as being in positions of responsibility and not just privileged.

In the past, we have had competent presidents who could have done our football a world of good, but their efforts were derailed by the selfish actions of some of those who surrounded them.

In conclusion, I challenge the club delegates in the December 2009 Congress to maintain Seedy Kinteh for the continuous development of Gambian football.