NFA to hold Exco meeting next month …Rukoro’s contract saga on the agenda

Otniel Hembapu Windhoek-After being widely accused of trying to bypass traditional protocols and statutes in his ongoing quest to get rid of Namibia Football Association (NFA) secretary-general Barry Rukoro, it has now emerged that the football association’s president Frans Mbidi has called for an executive committee meeting to discuss the burning issue of Rukoro’s employment contract. In a communiqué seen by New Era Sport, Mbidi wrote to all NFA executive committee members, including Rukoro, to inform them of the meeting, which is planned for April 7 in the northern town of Omuthiya. Rukoro, whose contract runs full circle end of this month, and Mbidi have been at each other’s throats in the last few weeks, trading 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. Mbidi and Rukoro’s ugly spat recently played itself out in the corridors of the Confederation of Southern African Football Associations (Cosafa), after Mbidi – who is also vice-president of Cosafa – reportedly abused one of the regional football body’s meetings to badmouth Rukoro and the entire NFA executive in an attempt to canvass regional and international support to oust the secretary general. After the Cosafa episode, Rukoro and some members of the NFA executive came out strongly condemning Mbidi for taking an internal NFA labour issue to a sub-continental platform. More so, considering that it was a national issue that had nothing to do with Cosafa or its president Phillip Chiyangwa, who is accused – in some quarters – of helping Mbidi overthrow Rukoro. Most NFA executive members have not pronounced themselves on Rukoro’s employment contract issue, but have advised Mbidi to follow due process and respect all protocols when dealing with the issue, as opposed to bypassing the NFA’s decision-making structures to settle his seemingly personal scores. It now appears that Mbidi is finally heeding that call, as he has now called for the April 7 executive meeting to be held at Omuthiya, if all executive members fully agree to that date and venue. New Era Sport is not yet fully privy to details on the meeting’s agenda points but one thing for sure is that the issue of Rukoro’s contract will top proceedings on the day, as some executive members are not happy with the way the issue was embarrassingly handled by both Mbidi and Rukoro. They, therefore, demand that the NFA’s internal laws and edicts be followed and complied with to resolve the matter.
New Era Reporter
2018-03-16 09:59:57 8 months ago