BY Sadibou Kamaso
As the Gambia Regional Football Association elections get underway, it is instructive to review the leadership recruitment process of our football in order to ensure the credibility and integrity of football administration in the country. The true challenge in Gambian Football extends far beyond constructing or enhancing stadiums and facilities. It involves the need to cultivate a culture or system that values football from the grassroots level. A solid foundation in football whether for the athletes or community development requires the establishment of well-grounded structures, policies and programmes that support growth and sustainability. Grassroots football in The Gambia falls under the purview of the Regional Football Associations yet there is so very little investment, attention or even the right policies in place to ensure its progress and development.
Having the right statutes or constitution in place is not only crucial in promoting the game of football and guaranteeing fair play but also in maintaining the game’s integrity, protecting stakeholder interests, ensuring financial stability as well as promoting growth. Sometime last week, a communique was sent out by the GFF to all regional football and allied associations informing them of the need to fulfil a constitutional requirement to hold elections marking the end of their four-year term. This means all executive positions at the regional football associations in The Gambia, except for KMFRA who should be conducting theirs sometime early next year based on their respective four-year cycles, are up for grabs. Lest we forget, all the RFA Presidents except for KMRFA and WCRFA are not eligible for re-election and therefore cannot contest again as per the provisions of the GFF Constitution. The Presidents of both KMRFA and WCRFA are currently serving their first terms in office.
Article 34.2 of The GFF Constitution states as thus:
“The members of the Executive Committee shall be elected individually by the General Assembly. Every candidate in the election of Executive Committee members must be proposed by at least one member. Members of the Regional Football Associations shall be elected by the Regions and confirmed by the GFF General Assembly.”
Article 35.1 of the same Constitution provides as follows:
“All members shall be elected to serve in office for a term of four years and shall be eligible for re-election only once after re-election. However the current term of the current executive shall not be counted.”**
**These Statutes were adopted at the General Assembly of the GFF in BANJUL on Wednesday the 30th Day of December 2018.
Whatever rule of interpretation one intends to apply here, the two aforementioned articles, in simple terms clearly indicate that ALL GFF executive members irrespective of where they got elected can only serve two terms sitting on the GFF board, PERIOD! However, this does not apply to the Vice Presidents at the RFA level but ALL RFA Presidents can only serve two terms because their election as President at the RFA elections is what confirms their position at the GFF boardroom.
For elections to be held in any democratic set up, there must be a guiding document, statutes or constitution governing that establishment to conduct same. The first question I asked myself upon reading the letter from The GFF to the RFAs is which statutes are the regional football associations using to conduct these elections bearing in mind some of the stories and actions that took place in the previous RFA elections? We have heard about elections conducted in URR in 2021 where voting was done before sunrise, before the opposition candidate even got to the voting hall, or in CRR where it was alleged that the voting process was marred by serious irregularities and same applied to NBRFA where stakeholders were cherry-picked to attend the congress. Well, it is 2025 now and some of the stakeholders are very much aware of their rights so there is little room for manipulation.
Currently, most of the RFAs are in possession of constitutions that have been edited mutatis mutandis from the GFF constitution replacing the abbreviation GFF with the respective RFA on theirs. Surprisingly, some of these constitutions have either not been formally adopted or copies provided to their respective stakeholders. As a matter of fact, most of the stakeholders do not even have copies to enable them to identify who the voters are or how elections are to be conducted. These stakeholders only rely on the precedence set in previous tailor-made elections to keep incumbents in power. I have been privy to three of the RFA Constitutions and it is clear that most or if not all the RFAs have continually seriously violated their constitutions. I will confine this violation to elections at this point since it is the matter under the microscope.
Article 30.2 of the three RFA Constitutions I came across state as thus:
“Elections shall be conducted by an electoral committee which shall be elected by the General Assembly one year before the election in compliance with the Electoral Code.”
The above was copied verbatim from The GFF constitution just as I mentioned earlier. One begins to wonder if the RFAs are indeed independent because over the years the GFF has been conducting these elections. Some very pertinent questions to ask now are “are the RFA Executive members accountable to their respective stakeholders at the regional level? Are they being remote controlled by the GFF Leadership? How often do the RFAs even conduct Annual General Assemblies where activities reports and financial statements are presented to the stakeholders who voted them into office? If the RFAs indeed adhere to the provisions of the constitutions which they have cited in the past to unlawfully punish some stakeholders, why aren’t they adhering to article 30.2 of their respective constitutions?
A good number of us, especially those in the football ecosystem, seem not to realize that The Gambia national anthem is a national prayer despite same being sung with passion, pride and patriotism before every international match or event. I personally get goosebumps singing our national anthem when I get to utter every word with humility and sheer fulfilment knowing the God we all serve will surely answer our prayers because group prayers I am told yield more reward than individual ones.
“For The Gambia, our homeland,
We strive and work and PRAY,
That all may live in unity,
Freedom and peace each day”
Do we really strive, work and PRAY that all may live in unity, freedom and peace each day? If we do then I kindly ask the RFA’s to please ensure they abide by their respective constitution and avoid using same only when it suits them.
For the good of the game and country
Sadibou Kamaso
