The Fifa-appointed head of Gambian football, Alhagie Sillah on Tuesday disclosed in a Standard interview that he and his normalisation committee have had their inaugural meeting at Football House and will have another meeting today, Thursday.
He said the meeting was “to touch base” with the work ahead and to familiarise themselves with essential things about the GFF “so as to effectively carry out our mandate as time is of essence in this process”.
“We have requested to be kept abreast of important matters such as the GFF’s financial status, for example, the Fifa Assistance Programme (FAP), how it was spent and on what; assess what has been done on the capacitisation and funding of regional and affiliate associations, profiles of staff as well as look at the organogram of the federation’s work force, all with a view of establishing who does what and who gets what,” Sillah said.
He also disclosed that that at the inaugural meeting they mapped out ways to stage the remainder of the current leagues programme, for example, the FA Cup which is now being scheduled for Saturday, August 9.
“We have set up a sub-committee to work on the organisation of that great occasion to be headed by NC member Ba Jabbie. That will be just one of many other sub-committees that would be indentified to take care of specific assignments as we go along in our mandate,” Sillah said.
The NC chairman further disclosed that his committee will co-opt members of the sporting fraternity who are believed to have the time and quality to contribute substantially to the effective attainment of the objectives of the NC and Fifa.
“In this drive, I am pleased to announce that Musa Sise a seasoned sports journalist and currently media consultant at Africell is with us and we might be joined by other competent Gambians as we go along,” he said.
Mr Sillah further said his committee will be “willing to listen and take on any positive forward-thinking idea” that can contribute to better Gambian football and called on Gambians to take interest and positively move Gambian football.
He commended the ousted head of the GFF, Mustapha Kebbeh, whom he said called him to offer his good wishes and promised to offer any assistance he might be able to render.
Alhagie Sillah, a former national team coach, MP for Banjul North and head of the National Assembly Select Committee for Sports was last weekend appointed head of the Fifa Normalisation Committee that was set up by the world football governing body on July 10. Fifa said it used article 7 of it statutes which empowered it to remove the executive committees of national football associations in exceptional circumstances. It went on to justify the move stating that important stakeholders have lost confidence in the then GFF executive, following a two-year suspension by Caf for numerous age-cheating by Gambia. The ousted GFF executive denied age-cheating saying that a number of administrative errors, one of which occurred even before they came to power, led to the saga.
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