WINDHOEK – Beleaguered president of the Namibia Football Association (NFA) Frans Mbidi, who claims persecution from the association’s Executive Committee, yesterday wrote to FIFA’s general secretary Fatma Samoura pleading for urgent intervention into the endless NFA disarray and also look into his recent dismissal as president.

The NFA Executive Committee this week dismissed Mbidi as president of the NFA after serious allegations of maladministration, corruption and bribery were leveled against the embattled Mbidi, and chief amongst the allegations are claims by the NFA executive that Mbidi failed to refute a report from NFA’s official delegates to the FIFA Congress in Moscow that he has taken money from the Moroccan bid officials to vote for that association’s World Cup bid.

In the NFA’s dismissal letter to Mbidi, the association’s executive members also accused Mbidi of failing to convene Executive Committee meetings as per NFA Statutes, in particular Article 34.1; failing to implement Executive Committee decisions as per Article 38.2 (a); being untruthful and misrepresenting Executive Committee resolutions to FIFA and CAF and being generally disloyal to the NFA and also rendering the NFA Secretariat ungovernable.

But in a retaliatory letter to FIFA’s Samoura, Mbidi called on the FIFA secretariat to urgently intercede in the ongoing infights at NFA, specifically the association’s executive committee that Mbidi claims that have ganged up on him in a desperate attempt to get rid of him. Mbidi, in the lengthy letter, further notified Samoura that his dismissal was unconstitutional and equally meted out in contravention of the NFA rules and statutes.

“I hereby register my contestation further that the NFA Executive Committee has not exploited necessary statutory provisions to arrive at such decision as one of the key decisions taken at the said unconstitutional meeting was to dismiss the president, ostensibly in terms of Article 35(0) and Article 37 of the NFA Statutes. In addition to the dismissal of the president, the unconstitutional meeting also resolved· to move and set the new date for the NFA elective congress for 12 January 2019. We are required by the NFA Statutes to hold at least four NFA Executive Committee meetings in a calendar year. By the time of these events, we already held two meetings on 28th April 2018 and 2nd June 2018. At our last meeting, the Executive Committee has agreed to appoint Barry Rukoro as General Secretary until the end of the year 2018, this was despite my refusal to propose his name for appointment…”

“…By so-doing a portion of executive committee members has literally captured the NFA General Secretariat which has made my duties, as the supervisor of the general secretariat, very difficult; let alone arranging meetings through the general secretariat. On 1st October, the First Vice President of the NFA Dr Naftal Ngalangi wrote an email to me, and therein he alerted me and the Executive Committee members that we might be violating the NFA Statutes if we fail to hold the required number of meetings. 

As a sequel to that email, another NFA Exco member, Mr. Roger Kambatuku replied on 2 October and agreed with Dr Ngalangi, and Kambatuku went on to propose that the First Vice president draft a formal letter to me as the NFA president to request a meeting; and for the Exco members who want the meeting to co-sign the letter,” reads Mbidi’s letter.

He continued: “On the same day (2 October), NFA Second Vice president Ludwig Nunuheb wrote an email and concurred with Kambatuku that they must formally request me as the NFA president to call a meeting. The same day, Mpasi Haingura, a former NFA Executive Committee member (who ceased to be an Exco member on 18 August 2018); but who still shares the email platform with the current Exco members, also agreed that a formal request for a meeting be made to me. Notwithstanding the above, and which I now report to have been the only correspondence from any NFA Exco member up to that stage, I never received the intended formal request for a meeting as alleged, and as required by Article 34 (2) of the NFA Statutes…”
“…on 5 October 2018, despite their being no formal request for a meeting, Haingura (now a former NFA Exco member) emailed proposed agenda points for discussion to me. On 19 October 2018, I wrote an email to Haingura and informed him that that I was served with a correspondence from the Nationwide First Division that, since he is no longer a Chairperson of North-East Stream First Division, he was replaced as the representative Chairman of the NWFD on the NFA Executive Committee. On 23 October 2018, I issued an Internal Memorandum and informed the NFA Executive Committee members that Haingura was replaced as the representative chairman of the Nationwide First Division on the NFA Exco in terms of Article 33 (2) of the NFA Statutes. The only correspondence regarding NFA meetings was an email alert from the First Vice President to me. That was not a formal meeting request as can be attested by its contents, and subsequent emails by Ngalangi and his colleagues in the Exco.”

“As for failing to call the required meetings as per the NFA Statutes, Mbidi said: “Notwithstanding the above, I wrote to the NFA Secretariat, and to my colleagues on 16th October and proposed to them that we hold the meeting on 26th October - that was despite there being no formal request as per the Statutes and in a further email to the colleagues on the same day, I proposed that we hold the remaining two meetings required by the NFA Statutes on 26 October and 24 November to be in compliance with the Statutes. Only Oscar Mulonda replied to my proposals and asked that the proposed October meeting of the 26th be moved to 27th October…”

“…On 25 October, I wrote an email to Ngalangi and the Executive Committee, and therein I cautioned them inter alia not to proceed with an illegal meeting which is not sanctioned by the NFA Statutes. I also explained to them my difficulties with instructing a secretary general (Rukoro) whom I do not recognize to arrange meetings. When I cautioned Ngalangi that I have never received a request for a meeting from 50% of the NFA Exco members as required by Article 34 (2) of the NFA Statutes, he forwarded me the alleged requests and which is, with all due respect a repetition of Annexures D - in which these people just agreed to ask for a formal meeting in writing, and which was never done.”

Further substantiating his claims, Mbidi informed Samoura that: “The First Vice President was not honest to the FIFA President when he wrote on 15th October 2015 and informed FIFA that they have requested a meeting from the NFA President which was ignored. There is evidence that I was actively engaging the colleagues on how and when we should hold the last two meetings to be in conformance with the NFA Statutes. The decision to suspend me was based on flawed interpretation of Article 35 (o), which cannot be read and implemented in isolation from all the provisions in Article 37 of the same statutes. I must further point out that the interpretation of Article 35 (o) as the sole basis to dismiss me is flawed. The processes that govern and precede the implementation of Article 35 (o) are fully covered in the entire Article 37 of the NFA Statutes, which Dr Ngalangi and his colleagues conveniently remain silent about…”

Article 37 (1) requires that: “Any Executive Committee member may submit a proposal to place such a motion for the dismissal on the agenda of the Executive Committee or Congress.” This process was not followed. Which is a fatal flaw in itself.

“The only proposal for the agenda items came from a person (Mpasi Haingura) who is no longer an Executive Committee member-and it was also not through the NFA Secretariat as required by the Statutes Article 34 (3). Even the proposed agenda from the illegally harboured Mr. Mpasi Haingura did not contain a proposal for my dismissal.

Article 37 (2) further states that: “the motion must be justified. It will be sent to the Members of the Executive Committee and/or the Members of the NFA along with the agenda.” No motion was prepared and sent to me or all the NFA Exco members in the format required by the above clause. Article 37 (3) further states that:” The person or body in question has the right to defend himself or itself.” “I wish to report further that I was also not afforded an opportunity to defend myself and reply to the false allegations contained in the dismissal letter to me. Haingura took part in the meeting despite being replaced as an NFA Exco member already on 18 August 2018, and despite all the NFA Exco members being informed to that effect by myself. The members present did not form a quorum. There were only five members 
present.”