WINDHOEK – Outspoken president of the Namibia National Olympic Committee (NNOC) Abner “Big Daddy” Xoagub, has expressed serious concern over the tortoise-pace at which the world’s football governing body Fifa is going about installing the eagerly awaited Normalisation Committee at the besieged Namibia Football Association (NFA).
A series of ugly disputes and wrangling, punctuated by unquenchable greed as well as an aggressive trail of power struggle within the annals of domestic football has prompted Fifa’s mediation in the conflicts that has derailed Namibian football over the last months.
As it stands, the NFA is effectively an institution that is on “Auto Pilot” following the unavoidable grounding of its Executive Committee, whose term of office expired late last year, while the current status of out-of-favour secretary-general Barry Rukoro remains a mystery as he still holds office to date.
Xoagub cautioned against the possible appointment of wrong people to the Normalisation Committee to oversee the resuscitation of NFA. He also expressed concern over the time frame.
“Given the magnitude of the task at hand and expectation from the general public, we need to get a clear understanding about the envisaged Normalisation Committee’s term of reference. Whoever is going to appoint the members of the Committee should make sure with their preferred choice of candidates by appointing people with appropriate knowledge and expertise – people with a proven pedigree and credible standing in the community.”
“The very moment you appoint corrupt officials, buddies, acquaintances and family members, such a practice obviously hamstrung the entire process,” charges the big frame sports official.
Following the departure of the NFA’s Executive Committee along with its president Frans Mbidi, the Bureau of the Fifa Council resolved to appoint a Normalisation Committee to replace the troubled NFA Executive Committee, which was the highest decision making body of the association under the stewardship of Mbidi.
Amongst other tasks, the Normalisation Committee will run the NFA’s daily affairs and cooperate with the special task force once it has been set up by Fifa, CAF and the local government, as per article 15 of the Fifa Statutes and; to review the fragile NFA Constitution, ensuring compliance with the requirement of both Fifa and CAF, organize and conduct elections of the NFA Executive on the basis of the revised NFA Statutes. Meanwhile, contrary to unconfirmed reports in some of the local media houses that a Normalisation Committee has already been appointed, New Era Sport has established that the Committee will be composed of an adequate number of credible members to be solely identified by a joint Fifa/CAF Mission.
All members of the Normalisation Committee must pass an eligibility check [test] to be carried out by the Fifa Review Committee. The Committee will also act as an Electoral Committee and none of its seating members will be eligible for any of the vacant positions during the elections.
And once all the above-mentioned tasks have been performed and properly fulfilled, the appointed Normalisation Committee functions will expire full stop.