The ensuing brouhaha amidst confirmation by the Namibia Football Association (NFA) president Frans Mbidi that the days of the association’s long serving secretary general Barry Rukoro in office are numbered, invites more questions than answers.
Dear readers, before you accuse the author of bias, it’s not and has never been my beat to choose sides with certain individuals within the football family.
Yours truly has been carefully keeping an eagle eye on comments and opinions blared on social media after the news surfaced that Rukoro’s employment contract is unlikely to be renewed upon its expiry at the end of next month.
Not that I give a damn whether the brother stays or leaves, but alas, in any decent structures there ought to be procedures that need to be adhered to – NFA is a reputable massive institution whose assets run into millions of dollars.
For starters, bro Mbidi as the designated commander-in-chief of the country’s football governing body, the NFA, is the most powerful bloke on the NFA executive and probably reserves the right to choose his own team.
However, the cruel manner in which the announcement was conducted leaves a lot to be desired. The incumbent SG should have been alerted way in advance that his services will no longer be needed – at least six months before expiry of his contract.
It should be noted that contracted employees have certain rights as well which they can duly exercise should the need arise. My biggest concern is for the trigger-happy NFA president heading towards the trap of robbing Peter to pay Paul.
It will be catastrophic to get rid of Rukoro – only to replace him with somebody worse than the outgoing SG just because he or she falls in the clique of Mbidi’s henchmen.
My humble advice to football followers and administrators is to allow due process to run its course whilst refraining from the sickening tribal undertones for the best interest of the game. Fair play demands playing the ball, not the man.
Let us do things by the book
Interestingly, yours truly received a request from a close buddy who happened to be our honourable ambassador to the land of the Pharaohs, Egypt, Japhet ‘Spiderman’ Isaacs.
The articulate diplomat, a keen follower of the beautiful game and an astute retired shot-stopper (goalie) formerly with Black Arrows (Tseiblaagte) and Ramblers FC (Katutura) was inquiring, and rightly so, about the presence of a Namibian footballer who is making waves in the highly competitive Egyptian topflight football league,
The brother was in high spirits and eager to be briefed about the new kid on the block, one Benson ‘Styles’ Shilongo, who announced his arrival in the highly rated Egyptian football league with a gem of a goal. Shilongo is the truly first Namibian footballer to ply his trade in the land of the Pharaohs.
Now, the fundamental question that needs to be addressed should be: protocol-wise, is it not incumbent upon the country’s football authorities (NFA) to duly inform our designated representatives in a particular foreign country whenever athletes are shipped out to those nations? I’m just wondering. I rest my case.