By: Leroy M. Sonpon, III
MONROVIA – Contenders in the forthcoming Liberia Football Association (LFA) elections are accusing the LFA of discrimination and calling on stakeholders to reject out of hand the guidelines recently issued by the Secretariat of the LFA.
LFA Presidential and Vice Presidential aspirants, George Wah Williams and Samuel Karn, as well as football bureaucrat, Andy Quarmie, criticized the intent of the guidelines published by the LFA as mischievous and intended to escalate hitches to the holding of the 20th March elections, in which President, Vice Presidents and Executive Committee members are to be elected for four years.
Williams is former Secretary General of the LFA, Karn is the Chief Executive Officer of 1st division team Karn, and Quarmie is the Senior Vice President of premier side, Watanga FC. The three football executives told the Daily Observer over the weekend that the guidelines fell short of integrity as envisioned by football’s parent body, FIFA, and expressed sadness that the Executive Committee of the LFA would sit in its committee room and draw up guidelines reflecting disintegrous intentions of the drafters.
The stakeholders’ cited Article four of the LFA guideline, which says that proposed candidates must have been an official of a club, from Secretary to President in accordance to Article VI Section 6.9 of the LFA 2007 statute, and Article VI Section 6.10 of the revised statute.
Williams, who is also the former Secretary General and President of Vantaa Sports, claimed that the crafters of the guidelines are not aware of FIFA Standard Statutes, which insist that persons contesting for such post “must have been active in football”, and this includes the General Secretary, Vice Presidents and other administrators, technicians and operatives of the game of football.
Boasting of his history in football, especially with Invincible Eleven (IE), Williams frowned on efforts to tie the qualification of candidates for LFA top post to Secretary General of clubs to President, when the LFA General Secretary position is, by responsibility, higher than secretaries of clubs.
The Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of 1st division Karn United, Samuel Karn, who has played an active role in Liberian football for the past 10 years, evidenced by his moral and financial support to Karn United from 3rd division up to present, is also calling for the trashing of the current guidelines, especially the eligibility of the aspirants.
Karn claimed that his position as CEO, financier and keen football follower surpassed the Secretary General or the President posts of clubs.
For his part, Quarmie is cautioning the local football governing house to play by FIFA regulations as far as the the LFA 2010 elections are concerned. According to Quarmie, FIFA says aspirants must be Liberians with good moral standing, must not be convicted of any crime and must have passion for the game.
“For example, Michel Platini was never a club president before becoming President of UEFA. Blatter was not president of any club, yet he became president of FIFA. We need to stop discrimination [in] football if we want to take Liberian Football a step further than what it is.
“We must encourage as many financially viable Liberians to get involve for the developmental, commercialization, branding, marketability, and other aspect that will bring pride to us,” Quarmie said.
The stakeholders further divulged that the Liberian National Olympic Committee (LNOC) and the Ministry of Youths & Sports (MYS) have received letters regarding the issue and said they are expecting ‘good results.’
Meanwhile, the secretariat of the LFA has categorically denied discriminating in the game and stressed that the guidelines are in accordance to the 2007 Revised LFA Statute.
The secretariat stated that owing to the pending revised elections of the LFA, which are set to take place in Egypt, the LFA stands by the 2007 LFA revised statute.