In April, GFA (Now GFF) Normalisation Committee chairperson Alhagie Omar Sey (L) said those who voted against the new Constitution will be disenfranchised in the upcoming presidential election (Photo credit: B.B. Baldeh/GFA/Facebook) |
An
NC-established Disciplinary Committee accused former President Seedy Kinteh and
Vice President Adama Halla Samba and 14 others including regional
representatives of “financial misappropriation” and “managerial irregularities”
and subsequently ban them for five years.
The withdrawal of the ban
followed an appeal filed by Messers Abdoukarim Sey and Ousainou Darboe, the
West Coast Region and Banjul Representatives.
Both told an appeal hearing
presided over by the NC that during this under review period (2009-2011) they were merely on
the peripheries of the administration of the Seedy Kinteh-led executive.
“The GFA was effectively run by
the President and his three Vice Presidents. We were hardly informed of any
meetings and in fact during the period, we attended only two Executive
meetings,” they told the NC.
“Therefore they argued that the
ban should not be applicable to them as they were not responsible for any of
the misconduct detailed in the audit report,” the NC said on July 17.
“Having
heard the appeals of the two appellants, the Normalisation Committee unanimously
allowed the appeals on the basis that the appellants were not part of the
people that bore the greatest responsibility for the greatest acts of
misconduct uncovered by the audit and findings of the Disciplinary Committee,”
according to the GFF Media Officer Bakary B. Baldeh.
As
a matter of principle, Mr Baldeh said, the Normalisation Committee has also
agreed to rescind the ban imposed on all the former regional representatives in
the former Executive Committee of the GFF.
Meaning
lifting a five year ban on the following: Alh Omar Sowe - Upper River Region
Representative, Saikouba Ceesay - Central River Region Representative, Wandifa
Kinteh – Lower River Region Representative, Lamin Dampha – North Bank Region
Representative,
Ousainou
Darboe - Banjul Representative, Abdou Karim
Sey – West Coast Region
Representative, and Sulayman Drammeh – Kanifing Municipal
Representative.
Meanwhile
Kinteh and Samba have both denied allegations of financial misuse and
maladminsitration during a joint press conference on Wednesday.
They
noted that such allegations have popped-up in the past but they were cleared by
a police inquiry into the matter.
They
also accuse the NC of involving in a smear campaign and witch-hunt against the
Kinteh-led executive committee that was dissolved by The Gambia’s Sports
Ministry on March 2, 2012.
Presidential
and executive committee elections of the GFF are scheduled for July 31, 2013.
On
June 8, former FIFA Deputy General Secretary, Jerome Champagne, said he is
dissatisfied with attempts to block candidates running for GFF presidency.
“To
block candidates is not correct and frankly we should have an open election,”
Champagne told West Coast Radio’s Abdoulie Bah in Ramallah during President
Sepp Blatter’s tour of the Middle East: Jordan, Palestine and Israel.
“Football
is about democracy, and football is about giving a chance to everyone,” he
said.
Follow Google+
Follow on Twitter: @thenorthbankeve
Follow on Facebook: The-North-Bank-Evening-Standard
Written by Modou S. Joof
Follow on Facebook: The-North-Bank-Evening-Standard
No comments:
Post a Comment
The views expressed in this section are the authors' own. It does not represent The North Bank Evening Standard (TNBES)'s editorial policy. Also, TNBES is not responsible for content on external links.