The Normalisation Committee presiding over affairs of Cameroon football federation (Fecafoot) has commenced plans to hold fresh elections for the president and executive members of the board on 28 September to avoid FIFA sanction.
Laurence Fotso, Normalisation Committee’s spokesperson, who made the disclosure said all logistics for the long-awaited poll “have been properly pre-planned.”
Fecafoot’s last elected president, Iya Mohammed, was on September 3, 2015 handed a 15-year jail term after being found guilty of mismanagement at the state-owned cotton company, Sodecoton, by Cameroon’s Special Criminal Court.
Mohammed, 65, became Fecafoot president in 2000 but sparked outrage when re-elected in May 2013 – while in jail awaiting trial.
Following his controversial re-election, Fecafoot began to swiftly unravel. In June 2013, Fecafoot’s Appeal Commission cancelled Iya’s re-election following complaints from the losing candidates.
A month later, FIFA provisionally suspended Cameroon “on account of governmental interference” in the running of the sport, which is outlawed by football’s governing body.
The ban was lifted weeks later after a Normalisation Committee, appointed by both Fifa and the Confederation of African Football, started work on running the country’s football.
The Normalisation Committee was tasked with organising new elections as well as revising Fecafoot’s statutes, neither of which – over two years later – have happened. Created to act as an electoral body, the Normalisation Committee’s original deadline of March 2014 for new elections has been pushed back three times for varying reasons.
“I think those different experiences have ensured that everything that has been put in place this time is working,” Fotso said.
“Things should go smoothly and we should come out with a new president,” he assured.
The window to submit candidacies for the elections opened on Tuesday and will close on Monday 21 September.
By Olisemeka Obeche
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