By Mohamed Jaward Nyallay
A High Court in Freetown has slammed an injunction on the Sierra Leone Premier League playoffs currently taking place in the Northern region. The ban means that the final rounds of the playoff that is supposed to start on Wednesday 25th September will not be played till the court rules otherwise.
The injunction came following a case brought the playoff by some members of the Sierra Leone Football Association.
In July, the FA announced its decision to add two more teams to the country’s top tier league, to make it a 16-team league. As part of their decision, they said the teams would be taken from the Northern region of the country only. Their decision provoked condemnation from the other regions who are already waiting to play their way through to the Premier League.
Back then the Head of Media and Marketing at the FA, Ibrahim Kamara told Politico that the decision was based on the need to get teams from the Northern region into the national league.
“Basically, it’s for national inclusion so that every region is represented at the end of the day in the top tier league. Before now all other regions have representatives in the league. A region as big as the North didn’t have any,” Kamara said.
But as things stand there is only one team from the southern province, Bo Rangers, who made it through a nationwide qualifying series.
The preliminaries of the playoff in the North have since been wrapped up over the weekend. A total of 10 teams are supposed to be in Makeni and Port Loko for the final rounds of the qualifiers with the plan being for two of them to be in the premier league. Tuesday’s decision comes as a blow to that process.
The injunction means teams from the North will have to wait to see if Justice Komba Komanda rules otherwise.
Treasurer of the Western Area Football Association, Augustine Kambo, is one of four members who filed for this injunction. He said their case was about getting fair treatment for teams that are already in queue to get to the Premier League.
“We are satisfied with today’s ruling. This whole issue is about balance. We are not against the North; the North should be represented in the premier league and we are not against that. But we want a balance, where coming into the Premier League is based on merit,” Kambo told journalists shortly after the ruling.
The other three complainants in this case are Joseph Mbogba, Tamba Gbetuwa, Mohamed Belloh Yilla.
SLFA spokesman Kamara, who was also speaking to journalists after the ruling, said the injunction has now delayed the playoffs.
He said: “As we speak, the different teams are now in Port Loko and Makeni where the playoffs will hold. This means everything has now come to a standstill. But it’s a court decision and we must respect that.”
Whiles giving the ruling on Tuesday, Justice Komba Kamanda said the complainants would pay a heavy compensation if they failed to prove their case. The lawyer of the defendants, Salmata Bah said she needed time to put together documents showing that those who filed the case against the FA were not in the “capacity to bring such action.”
Augustine Sengbeh Marrah who was representing the complainants said it was only wise for the court to grant an injunction now since the formal playoff was yet to start. Justice Kamanda had already differed an initial injunction request last Friday.
The matter is set to continue Friday, 27th September.
This court case has reopened a fresh chapter of deep wrangling among football officials in the country. A year ago, Sierra Leone was suspended from the international scene following months of wrangling which saw the country’s anti-graft body launch an investigation against the FA which barred the President, Isha Johansen and Secretary General, Chris Kamara from office during the course of the trial.
Johansen and Chris were eventually acquitted by the court.
This latest controversy could delay the start of the new Premier League season which was scheduled for October.
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