By Alpha Abu
The Sierra Leone Football Association (SLFA) Congress has elected Thomas Daddy Brima as the new President of the country’s football ruling body. His election was the climax of the elective congress in Makeni on Saturday 5 June 2021 that saw other stakeholders of the game elected to various positions.
Thomas Daddy Brima was elected the new President of the FA after securing 31 votes. Sadick Deen Nyarkoh got 26. Harold Nat –Johnson won the first Vice Presidency with 32 votes, his challenger Paul N. Saquee got 25. The Vice Presidency 2 went to Alie Badara Tarawallie, unopposed.
Days before the congress, all eyes were trained on the highly contentious seat of the presidency, and the exceptional events that unfolded in rapid succession further added to the high drama and suspense that had surrounded the office for the last 8 years.
First, it was the incumbent FA President Isha Johansen announcing that she was stepping out of the race altogether, to concentrate on her new FIFA responsibilities. Then 48 hours to congress, came the ruling from the Court of Arbitration for Sports, absolving football stakeholders and aspiring president Rodney Michael of any offenses inimical to the ethics of the game, practically legitimizing his candidature. 24 hours later and just a day to the polls, Rodney made a u-turn by announcing he was not going to take part in the election anymore. A very likable figure in football circles, his supporters were stunned. It was then down to a two-horse race involving Thomas Daddy Brima and Sadick Deen Nyarkoh.
The holding of the congress and its peaceful outcome was a stark contrast to events in the last 8 years; Johansen’s 5-year term expired three years ago but she continued to stay in office under acrimonious circumstances and the banning of key football individuals including Michael on suspicious allegations, further polarised a game that hardly witnessed a succession of undisrupted Premier league seasons over the years.
Many lovers of the game would celebrate as the sounds of Johansen’s receding steps fade away along the hallway of the SLFA Secretariat at Kingtom and would hope it would, forever. She generated a lot of enemies such that another new mandate to run football for another 5 years would have plunged the country into another era of uncertainty in Sierra Leone football.
Her loyal admirers though, see her as a hard nut to crack and someone with a visible and remarkable influence in Zurich, the administrative seat of world football. The new President would now have to reach out to those who have nursed grievances over the years because of the way they were treated. And in particular, Brima should try to revisit the ban or suspension of other people for some years now on allegations of ethical breaches that are yet to be thoroughly proven. He has the opportunity to unite the game for the benefit of players and fans.
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