The imbroglio at the Cameroon Football Federation, FECAFOOT, will have to continue for sometime. Last Friday’s meeting in Zurich failed to come out with definite results. The President of the world football governing body, Joseph Sepp Blatter, asked the two Cameroonian parties – the Ministry of Youth and Sports and the FECAFOOT, to return home and work in unison to resolve the stalemate. The conclusions of the meeting will be forwarded to the government in course of the week.
Reports from Zurich say there were three main points on the agenda: revision of the basic texts of FECAFOOT, management of the national team and elections at the FECAFOOT. Nguewa Omer of the delegation of the Ministry of Youth and Sports says it was unfair for officials of the FECAFOOT to arrive Zurich with their own version of the texts. According to the Secretary General of the FECAFOOT, Atanagana Mballa, FIFA was just being true to itself by taking the decisions it took.
According to the Secretary General, FIFA President gave major orientations on all the points on the agenda. With regards to the revision of text, he gave major orientations on how the document should look like and asked the two parties to return home and work together. As for the management of the National team, Jean Robert Atanagana Mballa said FIFA instructed the federation to manage the sports aspects of the team. A convention, on how to manage the other aspects should be signed between the told FECAFOOT to continue the process from where it ended. This means only election into the executive bureau will be done since those of the provincial leagues had already taken place.
In effect, it was last April that the saga that has come to be known as the FECAFOOT affair began. A new executive bureau to manage the affairs of the federation for the next four years had to be elected on April 24th, 2004. On the eve of the D-Day (April 23th), government made a giant stride to bring order into the management of Cameroonian football. The Head of State signed an important decree reshuffling the government. The Minister of Youth and Sports was removed. An accompanying communiqué from the Minister of State, Secretary General at the Presidency, said the Head of State had « prescribed the sending of a commission of inquiry to FECAFOOT and a quick review of the statutes of that body ».
On May, 07, 2004, the Minister of Youth and Sports, Siegfried David Etame Massoma, signed an order creating a commission to review the statutes of FECAFOOT. Headed by Nguewa Omer, its mission was to re-examine the basic texts of the federation so as to ensure that government’s sports policy in the domain of football is implemented. The nine-man commission also had to ensure that the statute and regulations of FECAFOOT were in line with those of FIFA, to which it was affiliated in 1962. The commission, which brought together sports administrators, jurists and seasoned footballers, also worked to ensure that the rules and procedures relating to the choice of officials of the federation guarantees transparency and democracy at the Divisional, Provincial and National levels. The results were handed to the Minister of Youth and Sports at the end of follow-up. Unfortunately, it did not bring about the much expected conclusions. FIFA has now made another back pass to the Cameroonian parties.
TCHE Irene MORIKANG, CT
