Former long-serving government minister and
erstwhile Normalisation Committee Chairman of the Cameroon Football Federation
(FECAFOOT), Joseph Owona, has been summoned to appear before the Special
Criminal Court.
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| Joseph Owona |
According
to the summons issued on December 7, 2015, Owona will be asked to give an
account of his management of the finances of the Indomitable Lions during their
2014 World Cup expedition in Brazil and the 2015 African Cup of Nations in
Equatorial Guinea.
Normally,
the Special Criminal Court, which prosecutes graft only in cases in which
significant amounts are involved, only summons officials it suspects of
embezzlement and other corrupt practices.
Owona’s
management of FECAFOOT often drew eyebrows, not only because of Cameroon’s poor
performances during his time in office, but also because of the financial
scandals that delivered raw meat to the hungry media wolves.
For
instance, during the 2014 World Cup in Brazil, in which the Lions lost all
their three games, it was alleged that the Minister of Sports and Physical
Education, AdoumGaroua, and Normalisation Committee Chairman Joseph Owona
almost came to a fistfight in Vitoria, Equatorial Guinea, after openly
exchanging insults, following a disagreement over the deployment of finances of
the national team.
It
is in this vein that the Minister was chased away from the Golden Tulip Hotel
where he was first lodged. He moved out to lodge at Quality Hotel in Vitoria.
There are, however, allegations that the minister left the hotel because it was
too expensive for him since he took a suite instead of the luxury room he was
allocated and had to cough out additional money to make up for the difference.
On
July 20, 2013, after lifting the ban placed on Cameroon on July 4, 2013, FIFA
appointed the professor of law, Joseph Owona, to head the Cameroon football
body. Under his 26-month reign, Cameroon participated at the 2014 Olympics in
London, 2015 African Nations Cup in Equatorial Guinea and the 2014 World Cup in
Brazil among others.
The
committee’s mandate was postponed a number of times due to the team’s failure
to draft out the rules and regulations to govern the Cameroon Football
Federation, FECAFOOT. This mandate was mostly postponed before major
competitions in which the country was to take part.
Set
up on July 22, 2013 to run for eight months, the mandate of the committee was
extended, enabling it to lead Cameroon to the 2014 World Cup in Brazil. When
Cameroonians were expecting that the committee will bow out on November 30,
2014, the mandate was further extended to February 2015 making it possible for
the transition committee to take Cameroon to the African Cup of Nations in
Equatorial Guinea.
On
the same ground that it needed more time to draw the rules and regulations of
FECAFOOT, the mandate of the committee was again extended to March 20, 2015.
However, the mandate did not come to an end on this date as it was again
extended to September 2015, enabling the Owona team to lead Cameroon to Canada
for the Female World Cup.
The
mandate finally ended in September 2015 after the election of Tombi à Roko as
the successor of Iya Mohammed, who is currently in prison.
During
this period, Owona, a former Minister of Youth and Sports, managed the billions
of francs in the coffers of FECAFOOT.
Pic
Joseph Owona
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