While the Confederation of African Football has communicated to its various member associations a document in which certain federations allegedly requested modifications to the body’s statutes, voices are being raised to denounce this letter. The Equatorial Guinean Football Federation disputes, in particular, having made proposals to modify the said statutes.
This is an internal affair that the Confederation of African Football would have gladly done without. While the pan-African body is due to hold its 46th General Assembly on October 10 in Kinshasa, Democratic Republic of Congo, it sent a letter to all its member associations on September 8. A document signed by the CAF secretary, General Veron Mosengo-Omba, and entitled: “Proposals for amendments to the CAF statutes and regulations for the application of the statutes, as well as the rules of procedure of the CAF General Assembly, presented by the national associations.”
A document in which several federations allegedly made requests for amendments to the CAF statutes. “The CAF administration has received proposals for amendments to its statutes, from several federations with a view to submission during the General Assembly of the body which will take place on October 10 in Kinshasa,” indicates the letter which cites in particular the federations of Botswana, Comoros, Gabon, Equatorial Guinea, Liberia, Mauritania, and Niger.
Two amendments requested to the CAF statutes
In a document that Sport News Africa was able to consult, these member associations allegedly made two requests:
Amend Article 18 paragraph 9 in order to remove the age limit criterion for being a candidate or sitting on the Executive Committee or the presidency of CAF.
Amend Article 18 paragraph 13 (a) removing the zonal union groupings used for the election of African members of the FIFA Council.
In short, candidates for the CAF presidency as well as the Executive Committee could stand or apply for a new term, while the current statutes indicate that “on the date of the election, candidates for the positions of president and members of the CAF Executive Committee must be Bona Fide members of their national associations and not exceeding the age of 70.” An age that some federation presidents are approaching, while the current CAF president, Patrice Motsepe, is 62 years old. With the age limit, he could, for example, only run for two more terms.
Regarding the elections to the FIFA Council, the elections are held by Zonal Union. Each zone has a representative on the FIFA Council and candidates for these positions can only be elected by the presidents of the member associations of their group zone. Thus, the presidents of French-speaking federations can only vote for a French-speaking representative, the English-speakers for the English-speaking group, and so on.
The distribution of seats on the FIFA Council is currently as follows:
Category 1: Two members from Francophone Group 1
Category 2: Two members from Anglophone Group 2
Category 3: Two members from Arabophone/Lusophone/Hispanophone Group 3
Category 4: One female member elected from among the female candidates, regardless of language groups
The modification of the grouping by zonal unions would mean that all presidents could vote for candidates outside their group, or that the candidates would also no longer be limited to a group. Several candidates from the same group could be elected to the FIFA Council, while at the same time groups could no longer be represented.
Equatorial Guinea disputes any request for modification
Except that in reality, some member associations cited in the letter do not acknowledge having made these requests for amendments. First to react, Venancio Tomas Ndong Micha. The president of the Equatorial Guinean Football Federation sent a letter to the CAF secretary general to indicate that his federation is not at the origin of such requests.
“I am writing to you to present the disagreement of the Equatorial Guinean Football Federation with part of the content of the document sent to the CAF Executive Council on September 8, 2024 signed by you (…) In this document, there are amendments presented by the Equatorial Guinean Football Federation (…) By this letter, we confirm that the Equatorial Guinean Football Federation has not submitted any amendments to the CAF administration for the 46th CAF Ordinary General Assembly to be held on Thursday, October 10, 2024 in Kinshasa,” he denounces.
Enough to cast doubt on this document sent by the CAF secretary general and the objective targeted. Contacted, a federation president, whose body is not mentioned in the letter, is surprised by these two requests for amendments and wonders about their intentions. The press release from the Equatorial Guinean Football Federation has sown doubt and now he is questioning the originality of the attachments included in this document which is likely to be talked about between now and the CAF General Assembly.
Author: Mansour LOUM