The Gambia Football Federations Electoral Committee has rejected the delegation of Sadibou Kamaso to represent Young Africans at Saturday’s elective congress because there is no empirical evidence that he has affiliation with the club.
Young Africans had sent the names of Sadibou Kamaso who is contesting the presidency of the GFF and one Ousainou Darboe as delegates.
But according to the electoral committee, one must have evidence of affiliation with the entity delegating him or her and Mr Kamaso had in his nomination forms indicated that the club he is affiliated with is Hawks and therefore his sudden affiliation with Young Africans is questionable. The committee therefore rejected the delegation.
However, according to Committee, this does not affect Mr Kamaso’s candidature as a presidential cabdidate since he has been duly nominated.
“It means however that he cannot take party in matters of the congress as a delegate but he can attend as candidate and can be voted for. He cannot however vote since he is not a delegate for any member.
Similarly, a member of Mr Kamaso line up Choro Mbenga who was delegated by Talingding United cannot represent the club at the congress for similar resaons. According to the electoral Committee Mbenga had earlier reported in the forms that she is affiliated with Red Scorpions. She like Kamaso is qualified to contest the elections as a candidate but cannot vote since she is not delegated by any member.
Also the electoral committee has sought clarification from Jarra West FC after one Ousman Sanneh’s claim to be delegated by the club as president, a claim refuted by the club’s officially recognized president Pa Assan Dahaba.
Accordingly the electoral committee rejected Mr Sanneh as a delegate accusing him of trying to deceive them.
Meanwhile Young Africans has responded to the Electoral Committee maintaining that Mr Kamaso remains their bonafide member and would represent them at the congress.
The full content of the letter from Young African FC ‘s secretary general reads:
I write to acknowledge receipt of your letter dated 23rd August 2022 in reference to above subject matter and I hereby reply as follows:
1. Your claim that as per your records and knowledge Mr. Sadibou Kamaso is the current Secretary General of Hawks FC and Red Hawks FC is well noted. However, we wish to bring to your attention that the GFF does not and has never at any point in time kept any record whatsoever of officials of any club, not to our knowledge. As a matter of fact, transfer of officials from one club to another has never been a subject of discussion or scrutiny by the GFF.
2. It is an established fact Mr. Sadibou Kamaso at the time of submitting his nomination papers to your committee, indicated he was the Secretary general of Hawks FC which nomination form was submitted on the 28th day of July 2022.
3. On the 29th day of July, a day after the submission of his nomination, having been endorsed by our club, Mr. Sadibou Kamaso brought to our attention a Newspaper Publication on the Standard Newspaper dated the same day where it was indicated that Hawks FC had withdrawn his signature as Secretary of the club in a letter addressed to the GFF despite the fact that Mr. Sadibou Kamaso is yet to get a copy of same which your committee failed to make any investigations to establish if Mr. Kamaso was indeed copied in the said letter as he had submitted a nomination form which indicated he was General secretary of Hawks FC. Mr. Kamaso intimated to us that he was surprised by the said publication as he was never informed nor copied in such a letter which was said to be dated 10th July 2022 and signed by the Hawks FC President. He intimated to us that he was as a matter of fact signing cheques on behalf of the club up until the 28th day of July. He expressed his wish to join Young Africans Football FC which the Executive of the club agreed to discuss in a meeting and revert back to him.
4. On the 2nd day of August 2022, our club held an Executive meeting to review Mr. Kamaso’s request to join our club as an Executive member. In the said meeting members unanimously agreed to co-opt Mr. Kamaso as an Executive Member bearing in mind his experience and added advantage he will bring to our club. In the said meeting, a letter was presented to us from Mr. Kamaso which showed he had even written to the bankers of Hawks FC to inform them he ceases to be a signatory of all Hawks FC Accounts.
5. On the 3rd day of August 2022, a letter was written and signed by myself as Secretary General and addressed to Mr. Kamaso informing him of the club’s decision to have him included in our executive with immediate effect which letter was dispatched and delivered to Mr. Sadibou Kamaso. A copy of the said letter is attached for you kind attention
6. On the same date, Mr. Sadibou Kamaso replied to our letter indicating his acceptance which letter is also attached for your kind attention
7. Article 23.3 of the GFF Constitution which you quoted in your letter is very clear same of which we are very much aware of hence the due diligence carried out in the whole process to accept Mr. Sadibou Kamaso as an Executive member. Your request was for us to provide evidence that Mr. Sadibou Kamaso has indeed joined Young Africans which we have clearly proven in the letters that were presented to you. It is therefore incomprehensible that a committee that has no up to date information nor any database of the list of Executive Members of any Club, Allied Association or Regional Football Association could question the timing of our letters.
8. We are very much aware that Mr. Sadibou Kamaso is entitled to enter the Congress Hall as a delegate on the 27th of August 2022 even if he doesn’t come as a delegate and do not need to provide any information that is questionable. It is our belief that, your committee should have established some more pertinent facts regarding members of every club rather than make assumptions on records that neither you nor the GFF has. A good number of club officials have switched clubs over the years and at no point in time has there been any official supervision by the GFF regarding this.
9. We wish to inform you that Mr. Sadibou Kamaso is a bona fide member of the Young Africans FC as per our records from the 3rd August 2022 and still remains a delegate for our club on the 27th August 2022 and will attend the congress our behalf. It is our fervent belief that your committee should stick to ensuring free and fair elections in the best interest of this country and not allow your good office to be used to disadvantage any member with legitimate rights to come in as delegates.
10. By this letter, we again affirm and confirm that Mr. Sadibou Kamaso shall remain one of our delegates for the August 27th 2022 Congress. We wish to categorically state that our club has abided by all the rules set by your committee and would therefore not allow anyone to infringe our rights.
Yours sincerely,
Malang Darbo
Secretary General
