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reports, not a single proposal for the bet- terment of African football was on the agenda, discussed or raised by any federa- tion president at the congress! Most of the browbeaten or compro-


mised federation presidents seemed too scared to speak the plain truth. “Te fact is,” as one federation official


from West Africa, who wanted anonym- ity, told me, “no one wants to stand up and remind our colleagues, publicly, that the state of African football is very bad. Privately, we all know that is the truth. Anyone who speaks out at a congress is regarded as an enemy of the CAF estab- lishment and will subsequently be frozen out of CAF committees and assignments. And no one wants to be excluded from these plum jobs.” Omari Constant, the president of the


DRCongo Federation – who was the only national FA president to rise to the podi- um – sang the praises, sycophantically, of CAF president Issa Hayatou, rather than discuss the burning issues that really mat- ter. Only the football at the 2nd edition of the Championship of African Nations (CHAN), lasting between 4-25 March, in which a deserving Tunisia beat Angola 3-0 to win the trophy in Khartoum, provided some pleasurable distractions for genuine connoisseurs of the game. It is clear that Hayatou, who will have


served an unprecedented 25 years as CAF president, by the time his current tenure expires in 2013, is in failing health. Having bumped into the sexagenarian


several times at Khartoum’s imposing Burj El Fateh hotel, where we both stayed, the 65 year-old no longer has the vitality and drive needed for this pressure-cooker job. In recent years, Hayatou has had hospi-


tal admissions in Switzerland and Ghana (during the 2008 Nations Cup finals). During CAF’s post-2010 World Cup con- ference last October, he had to be rushed to a Cairo hospital for treatment. Refusing to accept the true state of the


African game, Hayatou argued in a recent editorial, published in CAFoot, the organi- sation’s magazine, that “African football is growing by leaps and bounds year after year. Our clubs are getting more organised and the players are getting more and more experienced. Te work ethic, especially at the base, is [positively] changing…” If you find those remarks bizarre, Haya- tou’s thoughts on Africa’s woeful perform-


88 | April 2011 New African


Members of the CAF executive committee Issa Hayatou (Cameroon) Amadou Diakité (Mali) Adoum Djibrine (Chad) Dr Amos Adamu (Nigeria)


President


Member (suspended by FIFA for unethical conduct) Member


Member (suspended by FIFA for unethical conduct)


*Mohamed Raouraoua (Algeria) Suketu Patel (Seychelles)


Member (but recently elected as a FIFA executive committee member) Member


Almamy Kabele Camara (Guinea) Member Magdi Shams El Din (Sudan) *Kwesi Nyantakyi (Ghana) *Omari Constant (DRCongo) *Kalusha Bwalya (Zambia) *Leodegar Tenga (Tanzania) *Tarek Bouchamaoui (Tunisia) Molefi Oliphant (South Africa) Slim Aloulou (Tunisia)


Member Member Member Member Member Member


Co-opted Member


Jacques Anouma (Côte d’Ivoire) Hani Aboo Rida (Egypt)


Hicham El Amrani (Morocco) Tose asterisked* are new members of the board


has done some good things for African football. But it’s time to make an honourable exit now .”


“Without doubt, CAF President Issa Hayatou


Co-opted Member (suspended by FIFA for unethical conduct) FIFA Executive Committee Member FIFA Executive Committee Member General Secretary (Acting)


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