FECAFOOT - What Next?

After the annulment of the elective general assembly of the Cameroon football federation of May 25, one question remains hanging on the lips of all Cameroonians; that is, what happens next or how to break the present deadlock or impasse.

The way forward differs depending on whether one is talking to a pro or anti Iya supporter. According to the Communication officer of FECAFOOT, Junior Binyam, the elections were cancelled because nobody could guarantee security and that they are waiting for the moment when authorities will assure them of their security for the elective assembly to be re-convened.

Though the FECAFOOT communiqué clearly evokes security reasons for annulling elections at the national level, anti Iya campaigners interpret it as a sign of victory and that it is intended to give time for the application of the decisions of the Chamber of Conciliation and Arbitration of the National Olympic and Sports Committee (CCANOSC), which has cancelled elections in nine of the ten regions of Cameroon, with the exception of the West Region only. The organ also invalidated the candidacy of Iya Mohammed by this token and consequently the candidacies of Marlene Emvoutou and John B. Ndeh since they emanate from disputed elections that were also cancelled in the South and North West Regions.

The bone of contention is the infamous article 4 of the FECAFOOT internal rules and regulations which grant membership to individuals purported to have been annulled by a tripartite meeting of FECAFOOT, FIFA and MINSEP in 2004. The CCANOSC decision therefore required that local elections except in the West Region be re-run.

FECAFOOT has several arguments up their sleeves on this thorny issue. Firstly that the law is not retro-active as the Chamber of Conciliation gave its judgment after the electoral process had been launched already and that its decision is not final as they have a right of appeal to the International Court of Arbitration in Sports. More so, they say the Chamber of Conciliation violated its own rules when they granted fifteen days to the accused to present its defence. The Secretary General of FECAFOOT, Tombi A Roko has earlier indicated that they had twenty days to make an appeal and if the International court upholds the decision of the national jurisdiction, the elections will be re-run in the concerned leagues.

Though FECAFOOT says they have not reported to FIFA, the position of the World football governing body is still awaited given that representatives from CAF and FIFA attended the meeting where the decision was taken for the elections to be cancelled, according to a communiqué from the FECAFOOT Secretary General on May 25. There was a similar deadlock in 2004 when elections were suspended by the then Secretary General at the Presidency but later on given the go ahead to conduct the elections.