Namibia Football Association (NFA) president Ranga Haikali yesterday vowed that he will go to all possible extremes, if necessary, to unshackle the embattled NFA from the unscrupulous influence and continuous interference by the disreputable Progressive Forces group – an infamous cartel of disgruntled former and current clubs executives and chairmen.
The Progressive Forces group, unelected and not recognised anywhere in the NFA constitution, is the same group that claims it campaigned for Haikali to become NFA president and has since illegally continued to impose its influence on the decisions of the NFA executive and secretariat.
New Era Sport has it on good authority that members of the Progressive Forces group have been enjoying unlimited access to confidential NFA documents and to whatever executive decisions taken at all meetings of the local football association – as they have moles in the NFA executive and secretariat leaking confidential company information to them.
The constant leaking of information and private NFA documents to the Progressive Forces group have made it impossible for Haikali and his executive to provide clear policy guidance for the NFA as their decisions and plans are always countered and influenced by the ill intentions of the Progressive Forces group.
Haikali, Cosmos on warpath
To compound matters, fresh allegations surfaced over the weekend that NFA secretary general Franco Cosmos has awarded a tender worth N$2.5 million to a company – whose name this publication is yet to fully establish – without the blessings of the NFA executive.
Cosmos is also being accused of having created the position of chief marketing officer without the approval of the executive and that position is allegedly earmarked for a prominent member of the Progressive Forces group.
The N$2.5 million is for the installation and rollout of the much-anticipated FIFA e-connect programme, which is a new electronic system for players’ registration and records the registration information of all players resorting under their respective national associations.
Candidly speaking to New Era Sport yesterday, Haikali confirmed that a tender for the FIFA e-connect programme was awarded without his knowledge or that of the NFA executive and further went on to confirm he has established information that Cosmos created and advertised the position of chief marketing officer without following established corporate governance procedures.
“The NFA executive, of which I’m the head, had a meeting on 3 December 2020 and a whole range of issues were discussed at that meeting, but the two issues of the FIFA e-connect programme tender and the chief marketing officer position were deliberately kept away from us as it was not placed on the agenda. We have in the past followed corporate governance procedures when we were looking to hire a technical director, a secretary general and manager for finance, administration and IT, all those positions were advertised in newspapers and online as well. That’s how things are done. So, I’m asking, where was the chief marketing officer position? About the tender, why did it not come before the executive? The Procurement Act is very clear when it comes to the awarding of all kinds of tenders, were all procedures of the Procurement Act followed? Why did the secretary general not consult me? I’m the NFA president, not him [Cosmos]. These are all questions that I will soon find answers to and if need be, I will revoke both the tender and that position, because I have the power to do so. I’m the NFA president and we have an executive team, things will not be done in such a way, not on my watch,” said Haikali.
A vote of no confidence
This publication has also established over the weekend that the Progressive Forces group is hard at work strategising and trying to influence some members of the NFA executive to move a vote of no confidence in Haikali as they feel that Haikali is no longer entertaining their demands and not running the NFA as per their wishes – therefore he has to go.
Again, Haikali confirmed that he is aware of such an attempt by the Progressive Forces group but strongly maintained that they will not succeed, as he is ready and well prepared to crush any such attempts. “I’m very much aware of their efforts to remove me, but how will they succeed? Who will allow such things to happen? Do they even have any voting powers to start with? They don’t!! I have made it clear time and again that I will not be remote-controlled by anyone, not even the Progressive Forces group. Who are they? Who voted for them? Where do they get such powers because they are not part of any NFA structures, they are wasting their time as they will not succeed. I’m the NFA president and I will do whatever it takes to protect the brand of our football and all our sponsors. The Progressive Forces group is busy tarnishing the image of local football, they are about to chase away our sponsors with their endless nonsense and constant interference. We can’t run football through outside forces, no ways!” Also contacted for comment yesterday, Cosmos refused to comment on the allgeations, saying he is not at liberty to discuss NFA’s internal issues with the media.
– ohembapu@nepc.com.na