By Lamin Cham
Elections in the Upper River Regional Football Association are due next month.
However last week the regional sports committee which oversees all sports bodies in the region announced in a letter sent to all stakeholders including this medium that it has suspended all regional football activities there after what it called a consensus among all the six districts in the region about short comings by the Regional FA.
The regional sports committee accused the FA of not recognizing its authority, lack of transparence, hand picking of officials without due process and not putting in place structures at the district level.
The Committee therefore called for all regional football matters to be halted until the FA regularizes all those structures as well as conduct a proper determination of who is qualified to vote among other requirements.
Contacted for comments the President of the URRFA Furu Gomez said his Association will not be stopped by any such moves because there is no basis or good reason for the action of the Regional sports Committee. “For nearly four years these people have been frustrating all football activities by the FA. Each time we want to stage a tournament they will call police to stop us; but now they cannot stop us
.We will reply their letter but we have now decided that we will no longer be stopped by anybody now. We are answerable to the clubs and all are happy now they are playing football,” Mr Gomez said.
An independent analyst familiar with the scene said this new tension has to do with the impending elections. The Regional FA has been acrimoniously elected three years ago and their work has been frustrated by influential people in Basse opposed to them. ”I think what we are seeing again is another round of politics,” he said.
