{"id":2698,"date":"2021-06-30T22:57:17","date_gmt":"2021-06-30T21:57:17","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/empowersmag.com\/empowersmagwp\/?p=2698"},"modified":"2022-04-09T20:16:08","modified_gmt":"2022-04-09T19:16:08","slug":"double-and-treble-standards","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/empowersmag.com\/empowersmagwp\/2021\/06\/30\/double-and-treble-standards\/","title":{"rendered":"Double and Treble Standards"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

By Satish Sekar \u00a9 Satish Sekar (February 22nd<\/sup> 2021)<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Weaponised Control<\/strong><\/h3>\n\n\n\n

Disputes within African Football Associations are nothing new. Almost certainly they won\u2019t end any time soon. Resolution of these disputes clearly vary, but in some cases the application of the rules is not consistent, leading to accusations of favouritism and a lack of impartiality.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Football Associations, like other organisations, should not be subjected to governmental interference anywhere. But that does not mean that they should be allowed to break a nation\u2019s laws with impunity either.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

<\/div>\n\n\n\n

The Exceptional Case Study<\/strong><\/h3>\n\n\n\n

Sierra Leone is a case in point. The Sierra Lone Football Association (SLFA) President, Isha Johansen, was elected in 2013 but has not had to face another election yet. Let that sink in \u2013 almost eight years and counting. How is that even possible? And how has that been tolerated, especially As Ivory Coast has just had a  Normalisation Committee imposed on it when its FA was prevented from completing its tasks.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

It started with alleged governmental interference, but was the government interfering or doing as it had to by following its national laws? In 2000 Sierra Leone\u2019s then government established the Anti-Corruption Commission (ACC). A decade and a half later it began investigating SLFA President Johansen and Secretary General, Chris Kamara, for alleged misconduct over FIFA and CAF funds. FIFA had no complaint against the pair, but the ACC charged them in October 2017.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

That led to a power struggle in the SLFA and later between FIFA and Sierra Leone\u2019s government. And there was no way to compromise as the respective positions were irreconcilable. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

<\/div>\n\n\n\n

The Fight<\/strong><\/h3>\n\n\n\n

The law in the country demanded that the President and Secretary General had to step aside while facing trial, but FIFA\u2019s rules did not. They refused and FIFA demanded that the pair be reinstated or football would be suspended. The government refused and Sierra Leone was suspended.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

This had a serious effect on the country\u2019s football. The team was doing well in the Africa Cup of Nations (AFCON) qualifiers for the 2019 tournament. They were ejected from their group and the tournament proceeded without them. This damaged their football as the trial of Johansen and Kamara took two years. They were acquitted in October 2019. Having been acquitted they resumed their roles, but even allowing for the suspension of football in Sierra Leone, their term had ended.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Johansen won the Presidency of the SLFA in 2013. Her term was due to end in 2017, meaning the Elections were scheduled to take place in August 2017 before they were charged. They are yet to take place.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

<\/div>\n\n\n\n

Flawed Process<\/strong><\/h3>\n\n\n\n

They have been postponed indefinitely. The electoral process is controversial as some putative candidates were not allowed to contest the election. That included Sierra Leone\u2019s best ever player Mohammed Kallon. It is the second election he has not been allowed to contest.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Meanwhile, Johansen is standing for a seat on FIFA\u2019s Council (formerly its Executive Committee) against the incumbent Burundi\u2019s Lydia Nsekera. Her candidacy was odd too. In 2013 Nsekera lost the Presidency of Burundi\u2019s FA, just five months after winning her seat at FIFA. Despite the loss she retained her seat and did so again in 2017 \u2013 the latter being controversial. Johansen was facing trial and Nsekera was no longer President of her native FA. However, Nsekera kept her seat at FIFA\u2019s table despite losing the vote 35-12 to Johansen.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The 43rd<\/sup> Congress of CAF is scheduled to take place in Morocco on March 12th<\/sup> 2021. Johansen remains President of the SLFA and her opponent for the Women\u2019s seat, Nsekera remains the incumbent without being President of her country\u2019s FA.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The SLFA elections have yet to be held \u2013 no date has been set to date. Meanwhile, Johansen has received support in the FIFA election that she faces. And if Nsekera loses and wants to contest the sloped playing field that she faced, does the threat of a Normalisation Committee for Burundian football follow?<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

By Satish Sekar \u00a9 Satish Sekar (February 22nd 2021) Weaponised Control Disputes within African Football Associations are nothing new. Almost certainly they won\u2019t end any time [\u2026]<\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":2497,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[16,14,4],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/empowersmag.com\/empowersmagwp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2698"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/empowersmag.com\/empowersmagwp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/empowersmag.com\/empowersmagwp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/empowersmag.com\/empowersmagwp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/empowersmag.com\/empowersmagwp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2698"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/empowersmag.com\/empowersmagwp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2698\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":3336,"href":"https:\/\/empowersmag.com\/empowersmagwp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2698\/revisions\/3336"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/empowersmag.com\/empowersmagwp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/2497"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/empowersmag.com\/empowersmagwp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2698"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/empowersmag.com\/empowersmagwp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2698"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/empowersmag.com\/empowersmagwp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2698"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}