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THE fourth most powerful man in African football is under investigation in his country amid reports the entire members of the Djibouti Football Association have been barred from leaving the east African nation.
It’s a landmark move by the authorities in Djibouti, which has sent shockwaves into the corridors of football administration, throughout the continent.
For Souleiman Hassan Waberi, the president of the Djibouti Football Association, isn’t just another ordinary leader of the game on the continent.
He is the third vice president of the Confederation of African Football.
Until now, authorities in African countries have been hesitant, to plunge into the affairs of their football controlling bodies because of fear this could attract the wrath of the FIFA leadership.
However, FIFA’s iron fist is niw being tested, around the world.
More than a dozen European nations are considering to prevent the biennial World Cups by walking away from FIFA.
According to the Associated Press, UEFA have already heard from more than a dozen of their members, who are considering withdrawing their membership from FIFA, should the organisation press ahead with the changes to the World Cup calendar.
“If a majority in FIFA decides to adopt a proposal on (biennial) FIFA World Cups, the Nordic football associations will need to consider further actions and scenarios that are closer to our fundamental values than what the current FIFA proposal stands for,” reads a joint statement from Denmark, Sweden, Norway, Finland, Iceland and the Faeroe Islands.
Whether all this has provided a window of hope, for authorities in different countries to finally flex their muscles, in issues related to the management of their national game, is not clear.
This week, a number of African media outlets reported the Djibouti Football Association were now under the probe of the country’s authorities.
“Officials of Djibouti Football Association have been barred by the Sports Ministry of Djibouti from leaving the country,’’ reported Cameroonian football website, www.kick442.com.
“They are expected to assist a committee formed by the President/Prime Minister’s offices responsible for carrying out systematic inventory of the functioning, management and all the anomalies observed recently in the federation, to conduct an audit into their affairs.
“The committee is made up of The Technical Advisor to the Minister of Finance, the Inspector General of the SES, a senior executive of the National Commission for the Independent Commission of the Fight against Corruption.’’
There has been a spectacular fallout in Djibouti after the country’s senior national football team were embarrassed, in the 2022 World Cup qualifiers.
They started their qualifiers with a 0-8 defeat, at the hands of Algeria, before they followed that up with a 2-4 home defeat, to Niger.
A 0-4 home defeat to Burkina Faso followed before they were beaten 0-2 by the West African nation, in the reverse encounter, of their back-to-back fixtures.
Waberi and his football leadership were forced to apologise, after the 0-8 massacre, which the team suffered, at the hands of the Desert Foxes.
They are one of the 15 African countries, which have been knocked out of the group stages, of the 2022 World Cup qualifiers, after four rounds of matches.
The others are Zimbabwe, Mauritania, Liberia, Malawi, Mozambique, Kenya, Rwanda, Angola, Ethiopia, Togo, Namibia, Congo-Brazzaville, Guinea and Sudan.
Last week, Kenya’s Cabinet Secretary for Sports, Amina Mohamed, ordered an audit into the accounts of the country’s football federation.
The move likely places the country on a collision path with FIFA.
The announcement comes 24 hours after a court in Nairobi blocked the bid by Football Kenya Federation president, Nick Mwendwa to stop the Directorate of Public Prosecutions (DPP) and Directorate of Criminal Investigations (DCI) from investigating and arresting him, for misappropriation of funds.
On Friday, Mohamed ordered the Sports Registrar to audit the FKF accounts and prepare a report.
The government is seeking answers to among other things, how 244 million shillings (US$2.2 million) which was given to the federation, to prepare the Harambee Stars for the 2019 Africa Cup of Nations finals in Egypt, was used.
The Harambee Stars will not feature in the 2021 AFCON finals after they were knocked out, during the qualifiers in March, by the Comoros. — Sports Reporter/www.kick442.com/www.pmnewsnigeria.com.
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