Alieu Ceesay & Maimuna Sey-Jawo
A misunderstanding developed into a near stand off at the Fifa Goal Project in Yundum when a visiting National Assembly select committee on tourism, culture and sports was allegedly denied entry to the premises, reliable sources told The Standard.
According to our sources, the Manager of the Hotel, located at the center, Lamin Sanneh said he was not officially informed of the visit of the committee before hand and therefore could not allow them access.
Sanneh further said since there were guests in the rooms it was not normally the practice to allow inspectors in.
However the chairman of the NAMs select committee on tourism, culture and sports Honorable Momodou Camara described the incident as very disappointing, unacceptable and a contempt of National Assembly laws as you cannot deny a NAM from doing his work.
According to Honorable Camara the tour is not a witch-hunt but was designed to enable them to meet the people and get firsthand information on their constraints and map out the way forward.
Independent observers said the tour came at a time when the GFF and the Ministry of Sports through the National Sports Council were engaged in a tussle. The NSC has suspended the GFF but the football authorities have called the act illegal and will not comply.
Another independent source said the Select Committee arrived in the company of GFF secretary general Abass Bah and technical director Ebrima Manneh whose contracts with the federation will end in December but have been told to stay at home.
Another source also said the Select Committee had allegedly said that they are not keen on talking to the GFF executive since they are technically ‘suspended’ by a legally constituted government body, the NSC.
