Cycling Federation Adopts New Status

Members over the weekend gave the green light to Moustapha Dogo to manage the body until fresh elections.

The Cameroon Cycling Federation met in an extraordinary general assembly on Saturday July 5th in Yaounde and adopted the revised statutes of the association. According to the Secretary General of the federation, Bruno Eloumou, the major changes in the revised statutes have to do with affirming the independence of the federation, redefining membership and eligibility criteria as well as the creation of an organ to manage elections within the federation.

Concerning the independence of the federation, an article forbidding government interference is clearly inscribed in the preamble of the statutes. Membership to the federation will henceforth be declared by the general assembly after the acquisition of licence and or being up to date with the financial contributions. Consequently, the cost of licence was reduced from FCFA 25.000 to 15.000 at the national level and down as low as FCFA 5000 in the divisions.

On the thorny issue of elections, provision was made for the creation of an electoral organ within the federation in charge of managing elections as well as litigations emanating from elections and only recourse to the Chamber of conciliation and Arbitration of the Olympic Committee as a last resort. It was also decided that only members of the general assembly or delegates from the regions could stand for elective office.

To fill the power vacuum at the helm of the federation, the general assembly gave the green light to Moustapha Dogo to continue running the affairs of the federation until the holding of fresh elections. However, no date was advanced for the elections as interim president; Moustapha Dogo said it will depend on the availability of money to convene the elective general assembly. He pledged to implement the new statutes to the letter saying they now conform to the recommendations of the International Cycling Union.

As to why one of the unfortunate candidates at the disputed and annulled elections, Ateba Koungou, was barred from taking part in the meeting, he said Ateba Koungou was not a member of the general assembly but member of the Littoral Regional League where elections were equally annulled and could therefore not be allowed to take part in the meeting. The Douala imbroglio also came up for discussion and it was decided that a committee headed by Moustapha Dogo will go down to the field and unite the belligerents so as to find a peaceful and lasting solution to the problem.