Cameroon football cannot be left in the hands of rascals

Abdouraman Hamadou

- Prof. Joseph Owona has no sense of honour
- Abdouraman Hamadou, president of Etoile filante FC of Garoua
Cameroonians seem to be unanimous on the point that the FECAFOOT Normalisation Committee has not succeeded in its mission of putting the country’s declining football back on rails. This, principally, is what Abdouraman Hamadou is saying in this interview he granted Le Messager newspaper and which The Median translated for your reading pleasure
    What is your reaction after the annulment of the FECAFOOT election which was supposed to hold on Wednesday, 25 February 2015?
    I’m obviously satisfied that finally Cameroon preserved its sovereignty. It was a question of the Normalisation Committee, in complicity with FIFA, applying on the Cameroonian territory a text considered illegal by the highest sports organ in our country. I’m equally very satisfied to see that the highest sports organ in the world (the International Tribunal for Sports – TAS) confirmed on the one hand that the FECAFOOT statutes written by our eminent professors of the Normalisation Committee and approved by FIFA are opposed to the Cameroonian legislation, and on the other hand that the members summoned for the adoption of these statutes did not have the mandate to do so.
    TAS confirmed the decision of the Reconciliation and Arbitration Chamber of the National Olympic and Sports Committee (CNOSC) on 30 October 2014, invalidating the Elective General Assembly of 2013 in favour of that of 2009. In what way can this decision change something in the ongoing electoral process in FECAFOOT, given that the members of the 2009 General Assembly are almost the same as those of today?
    It was not a question of comparing the composition of the two assemblies, but rather of knowing which of the two is legitimate. In addition, to say the members of the 2009 Elective General Assembly are the same as those of today smacks of permanent manipulation orchestrated by the Normalisation Committee. The truth is that Prof. Joseph Owona (president of the FECAFOOT Normalisation Committee) and Mr. Tombi à Roko (the current secretary-general of FECAFOOT and candidate for the post of president of this institution) don’t have the capacity to obtain even a simple majority within the 2009 General Assembly. If they refused to summon it, it’s because they were aware of this. They had planned the violation of the law and were in need of a docile and thieving assembly.

    How do you rate the work done by the FECAFOOT Normalisation Committee?
    The balance sheet is a mediocre one given the academic references made of its members. It is clear to everyone that this Normalisation Committee has failed woefully at all levels. Just look at the missions assigned to the committee at its creation; none of them has been realised.
    How do you explain this “failure” of the Normalisation Committee whose members are, in other respects, imminent jurists?
     I think I know the reasons for this failure, but permit me not to say them here.
    In your opinion, is the putting in place of a “Temporary Management Committee” in FECAFOOT insteasd of the Normalisation Committee a good idea?
    A Temporary Management Committee or Interim Management Committee or Temporary Executive Cell are all but semantics. The most important thing is the mission to assign to this executive organ and the integrity of the men who will run it.
    When the electoral process will begin from scratch, can we imagine that you will be candidate in this new FECAFOOT election?
    If the rules are clear and the organisation impartial, why not? Contrary to what some people think, it’s not only as president that one can serve our football. One can do so at all the levels of FECAFOOT. I will always be ready to make my modest contribution at whatever level, because football is first of all a real passion for me from time immemorial.
    Some football actors say that you (Antoine Essomba Eyenga and yourself) are “manipulated” by political networks which want to take over FECAFOOT. Is this true?
    Those who truly know me know that to manipulate me, you must get up on the good side. I function on conviction. I don’t do anything which is against my conscience, and this is the case with my engagement in safeguarding the interest of our football.
    To put an end to this squabble between the leaders of Cameroon football and which, in other respects, tarnishes the image of our country at the international level, are you ready to “discuss” with the opposing camp to form an executive union bureau?
    I deny the word “squabble”. We are trying to prevent a group of rascals from taking our football hostage. We have realized that these persons don’t respect our institutions and are only taking orders from the headquarters of FIFA in Zurich. We are trying to prevent the setting up in Cameroon of a kind of colonial counter. For us, it is simply a second Independence struggle for our country. We are ready to discuss with all those who respect our country and its institutions and who want to serve our football. But unfortunately, the current FECAFOOT leaders are only thinking of their personal interests which they have put above everything else.
    What in your opinion is the best solution to take FECAFOOT out of the chaos in which it finds itself today?
    The only solution is the respect of the laws of the Republic. New statutes that are in conformity with our legislation have to be written and made to be adopted by the Constituted General Assembly that was put in place at the end of the 2009 electoral process. After that, elections should be reorganised at the level of the divisions while the electoral colleges of all fake clubs should be wiped out. Evidently, we need worthy men and people of integrity who have a high sense of public interest to manage our footballs. This is not the case with Prof. Joseph Owona in particular who should have already resigned if he had a sense of honour.
     FIFA has once again extended the term of office of the Normalisation Committee. What is your reaction to this?
    The extension was expected. But bringing back the same men only means rewarding mediocrity and it is a very dangerous message to all Cameroonians, particularly the youth who are in need of reference marks and who know that when one fails one is sanctioned, not compensated.