Otniel Hembapu
Windhoek
The Federation of International Football Associations (FIFA) has instructed veteran football administrator David Fani, who is FIFA’s development officer overseeing the South and Central regions, to take charge and bring order to the affairs of the Namibia Football Association (NFA).
Fani arrived in Windhoek yesterday morning, on the instructions of FIFA, to come and look into and find solutions to the ongoing power-wrestle between NFA president Frans Mbidi and the association’s secretary general Barry Rukoro, as well as get a clear understanding on the position of the NFA executive committee as far as the matter is concerned.
A lawyer by profession and also former president of the Botswana Football Association (BFA), Fani summoned concerned parties to a local hotel yesterday. The summoned members included both Mbidi and Rukoro, members of the executive committee and some NFA employees. It was a string of briefing and information-sharing sessions, where Fani first sat with Mbidi in a lengthy closed-door meeting, where Fani is believed to have demanded Mbidi’s version of events and Rukoro was then next on the list.
Rukoro is also said to have gone through the same questioning process and also sharing his side of the story. The NFA employees and the various executive members also underwent the same process. The questioning sessions took place separately, as different time slots were allocated for each session.
According to NFA insiders, Fani will compile a comprehensive report that will bring to the fore all his findings, which will then enable FIFA to come up with the concrete solution to the problems currently besieging Namibian football.
Fani is also said to have demanded minutes from the NFA’s last few executive meetings and other relevant documents pertaining to the issue of Rukoro’s contract, and other administrative issues.