… over alleged financial, administrative transgressions
Otniel Hembapu
Windhoek
It is slowly becoming evident that Namibia Football Association (NFA) president Frans Mbidi and the association’s secretary general Barry Rukoro are prepared to ruthlessly use all tricks in the book of tricks to try and topple each other – either by hook or by crook.
It has emerged that the NFA executive committee – which is one of the association’s highest decision-making bodies – met on the sidelines of The Namibian Newspaper Cup over the past Easter weekend to deliberate on and look into the frosty relationship between Mbidi and Rukoro, which is on the verge of bringing Namibian football into total disrepute.
Rukoro, who is technically out of contract since his employment contract officially ended on Saturday, March 31, and Mbidi have been at each other’s throats for some time now, swapping verbal jabs over Mbidi’s reported attempts to unilaterally remove Rukoro as head of the NFA secretariat without following the NFA’s laws and statutes, which include consulting the executive committee when making such a decision.
According to the NFA constitution, as president Mbidi may only propose the appointment or dismissal of an NFA secretary general but does not have the powers to unilaterally dismiss the secretary general. The only body that has all the powers to hire and dismiss the secretary general is the NFA executive committee.
Recently, after having closely followed the embarrassing and equally disturbing Mbidi-Rukoro soap opera, the NFA executive committee through second vice-president Ludwig ‘Croocks’ Nunuheb wrote to Mbidi informing him to put a full stop on his ongoing persuasion of trying to unseat Rukoro until they (the executive) have fully pronounced themselves on the issue.
NFA executive committee members were initially set to meet this weekend, April 7, at the northern town of Omuthiya for an urgent executive meeting, where Rukoro’s contract issue was expected to be ironed out and the way forward to be pronounced by the executive, but ironically the very same NFA executive chose to hold a marathon closed-door meeting on the sidelines of the Newspaper Cup – as opposed to the set date of April 7 – to discuss Rukoro’s contract and various urgent issues around Mbidi presidency.
Sources privy to the somewhat secretive meeting informed New Era Sport that Mbidi was not present at Saturday’s meeting as he is currently out of the country and only Rukoro and other executive members were present.
At the meeting, according to sources, the executive was informed about various serious administrative and financial transgressions implicating Mbidi (which New Era Sport is currently investigating and will be published within this week), which the NFA executive felt were damaging, not only to Mbidi or the NFA, but to Namibian football as a whole and thus recalling Mbidi appears to be the only panacea.
Although New Era Sport can’t fully establish the alleged administrative and financial contraventions implicating Mbidi at this stage, sources within the NFA executive confirmed that most members felt it is befitting to recall Mbidi through a motion of a vote of no confidence, which could lead to his subsequent removal as the undisclosed financial and administrative misconducts are said to be of a serious nature.
On Rukoro’s employment contract issue, the executive member further said that a final decision regarding Rukoro’s future will definitely be taken at this Saturday’s meeting at Omuthiya and that decision will be final and binding – which could see Rukoro vacate his office or prolong his stay.