By Amin Kef Sesay
Babadi Kamara, who happens to be the Executive Chairman of the Bo Rangers Football Club, has added his voice to the recent decision taken by the Parliamentary Oversight Committee on Sports by instructing the Sierra Leone Football Association Electoral Body to ‘stay action’ in the erstwhile ongoing electioneering process until the Committee concludes its engagement with the football family, as pronounced by its Chairman, Hon. Alusine Alu Conteh.
According to the Bo Rangers Chairman, there has been no abnormality in the ongoing electoral process of the Sierra Leone Football Association (SLFA).
In what Babadi termed: “Parliament Poking into the Electoral Process of SLFA Should be done Cautiously” he convincingly argued that due process was followed by the Football Association (FA) in the nomination process, for its February 26th and 27th Elective Congress in Makeni City. He furthered that if there were hitches then such was the fault of those who did not follow the due process and not the FA.
He maintained that in as much as some people may want to see the back of the President of SLFA, Madam Isha Johansen from the leadership of the FA, however with the current status quo, how could that be done.
“Almost everyone is tired about the infighting in the Sierra Leone football and the general call is that the President Isha Johansen should go. Yes we all want her to go but which model do we use to get her out?” he rhetorically asked.
Babadi again asked: “Do we circumvent the rules and electoral process to fit an individual or do we play by the rules of the game?
He said the above questions asked emanated from the cry that Mohamed Kallon, the finest Sierra Leonean footballer the country has seen, has been disadvantaged.
The Bo Rangers Chairman said following Mohamed Kallon’s accusations of the FA, of being illegally eliminated in the nomination process, there have been series of unjustifiable allegations that the FA deliberately kicked him out of the process.
He however asked salient questions to determine whether the allegations are in place.
One of them is : “How many people aspired for the SLFA Presidency?”
“How many went through nominations successfully?
“Who is the biggest rival to Isha in the race?”
He said as best as he knows, Isha, Rodney Michael, Saffa, Kofi, Thomas Brima and Kallon all were intending aspirants for the FA Presidency meaning there were six people who wanted to lead the beautiful game in the country.
He added that among the six persons that want to aspire, five went through nomination successfully which is a 83.33% success rate saying for every electoral process he is very sure that percentage is an excellent passing rate.
Babadi went further to liken the process to what obtains in national politics, which is about due process, saying an aspirant starts losing or winning an election from his or her first steps.
Giving a vivid example, he said: “Let us also put this into context. In 2002, Charles Margai was disqualified to contest against the late President Kabbah for the SLPP flag bearer on the grounds that he was not a paid up member of the party.
Based on what he said, if someone wants to contest an election, both the nominee and nominator should be qualified for the position contested for.
He stated that in the case of SLFA, every aspirant is supposed to be nominated by one person and seconded by another person.
“Isha, Rodney, Kofi, Saffa all went through the process successfully. Why would the only legend in the ring failed to do his homework,” he asked.
Babadi stated that the question bears the answer that playing the game is not the same as governing the game.
Another analogy he gave is that a political parliamentary candidate will not be nominated by a paid up member of a party and seconded by a foreign national, which he said, is clearly the case in the legend’s saga.
He was also honest to state that the General Secretary of SLFA, Chris Kamara, did all he could to keep all members updated on the electoral process.
The Rangers Chairman highlighted that apart from sending out official correspondences to members, Chris also went ahead to create a WhatsApp group where he shared the guidelines and deadline for the nomination.
“Before God and man too, we have to be fair with the General Secretary of SLFA. He took his time and created a WhatsApp group purposely for the management of the electoral process. He posted all the guidelines over and again and the deadline for the process was communicated many times. Why blame anyone for this?”
“If you want to lead us you have to be very serious and sincere with yourself,” he argued vehemently.
According to the expressed views by many whom this medium contacted to comment on Babadi’s stance the vast majority said the Football enthusiast is advising the Sierra Leone Parliament to be cautious in ‘poking into the Electoral process of the SLFA’.
Another thing that came out clearly was that many viewed the action of the Parliamentary Oversight Committee as political interference stating that it has the tendency of FIFA banning the country to participate in future competitions.
