BY WIFAH JENNYHANS NDE
Barely two months after Issa Hayatou lost to Madagascar’s Ahmad Ahmad as president of the Confederation of African Football, CAF, another blow was dealt the Cameroon sports sector after another Cameroon sports administrator, Colonel Kalkaba Malboum was disqualified to run for the presidency of the Association of National Olympic Committees in Africa, ANOCA leaving the race for the lone contender and incumbent, Ivorian-born Lassana Palenfoin who won by acclamation.
Malboum’s accreditation for the event was revoked by the ANOCA Executive Committee after he was accused of illegally using the Cameroon government to campaign on his behalf. Reports have it that the executive committee of ANOCA came into possession of documents showing that finances had been made available by the Cameroon government to aid the candidacy of Hamad Kalkaba Malboum to motivate National Olympic Committees of other countries to vote in Malboum’s favour.
The documents allegedly also indicated that more funds were being sought to “continue the exercise”.
Consequently, an emergency executive committee was convened on last Saturday which excluded the incumbent president as he was an interested party. The meeting was chaired by the first vice president, Mustafa Berraf of Algeria. Hamad Kalkaba Malboum who is the president of Cameroon’s National Olympic Committee, admitted that the documents tendered were authentic but vehemently disputed that the funds that had been provided by the government were being used to illegally “motivate” any person to influence the elections
Malboum says he shall take the matter to the International Arbitration Court for Sports so as to restore his name which is now being dragged in mud.
Issa Hayatou on his part was defeated from his position of CAF president, a position he held for 29 years before the humiliating thrashing by Ahmad Ahmad last March, 2017 in Adis Ababa, Ethiopia losing 20-34 votes.
Issa’s defeat meant he automatically lost his position as Vice President of the world football governing body FIFA. However, FIFA, during their recent assembly, Issa Hayatou was appointed Honorary Vice-President at FIFA.
While some football lovers see his appointment as recognition of the huge efforts he has made to improve African football, raising the number of African teams for the World Cup from 3 to 5 places and lots more. The successful transition he led as FIFA interim president to exit Sepp Blatter and usher in Gianni Infatino may also have been considered for his appointment.
Others say his appointment may be a form of appeasement after his defeat given that Issa allegedly blamed FIFA for not giving him the necessary support during the election.