Sierra Leone football rocked by internal power wrangles
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Tags: Football, SLFA
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Sierra Leone football has again been rocked by internal power wrangles following a decision taken by members of the Sierra Leone Football Association (SLFA) to dissolve the executive committee led by Isha Johansen.
A nine-man interim body, headed by an owner of a premier league club and veteran football administrator Alhaji Unisa Alim Sesay, has been set up to run the affairs of the association with immediate effect until elections are held in June 2015.
The decision was among nine resolutions agreed on by the majority of SLFA members, including 12 out of 14 premier league clubs, in an unusual extraordinary congress.
It took place via a telephone conference as members were not given permission by the Sierra Leone police to assemble due to the state of emergency laws in place to stop the spread of the ebola virus.
But the Johansen-led executive does not recognise the decisions taken by the members, accusing the extraordinary congress of being illegal.
World football’s governing body, Fifa, is yet to react to this latest development, but had previously warned it would frown at any decision taken in the extraordinary congress, questioning the validity and authenticity of the stakeholders who convened it.
These stakeholders had already written to Fifa with signatures of the delegates attached to make a case that they were genuine, and they remain adamant that Saturday’s meeting, and the decisions taken, do stand.
“The executive committee presided over by Madam Isha Johansen and its members elected on 3rd August 2013 are hereby dissolved, and a nine-man interim body will run the affairs of the association for a period of six months,” members claimed in a statement.
“This issue is considered to be wholly internal and as a result third party interference will not be entertained or appreciated.”
“The developments have been communicated to all relevant bodies i.e. Fifa, Caf, Wafu, and the national sports council.”
It comes a day after Johansen tightened up security at SLFA headquarters after claiming intelligence had been received suggesting some people were planning to invade the secretariat.
The dispute started when the Johansen-led executive failed to convene congress between April to June as required by the SLFA constitution which states an annual congress must be held in the second quarter of the year.
The executive committee postponed the congress to 29 and 30 January 2015 to the disapproval of the majority of SLFA members and subsequently suspended all football related activities in the country due to the outbreak of ebola.
The members then decided to invoke article 28 of the constitution by requesting the executive committee to hold an extraordinary congress but their request was not granted and they took it upon themselves to organise it.
During Saturday’s congress, members also decided to lift suspensions of all players and officials who were allegedly accused of match-fixing five months ago.
“The purported suspension on allegations of match fixing of players, officials and other persons by the Isha Johansen-led executive in breach of the rules of natural justice is hereby rescinded.
“This is without prejudice to any other investigation to be conducted subsequently with regards to the same,” the statement further reads.
Johansen came to office in August 2013 in a controversial election. She went unchallenged after former Inter Milan and Monaco striker Mohamed Kallon and former Sierra Leone Premier League board chariman Rodney Michael were disqualified.-AfricaMetro
