January 29 – The Sierra Leone government is backing the country’s present football regime against the threat of a takeover by a rebel group pushing for change.
For months the Sierra Leone FA, run by Isha Johansen – one of only two female federation presidents – has been trying to fight off an unofficial group of campaigners who claim they have unseated her and are now in control.
Johansen already has the support of FIFA and now the government has stepped in to endorse her administration.
In an official statement, the office of Sierra Leone president Ernest Bai Koroma said that following the “protracted dispute” a formal SLFA Congress will now be held in April and that until then “the status quo should be maintained for now by allowing the current SLFA executive to continue in office and carry on its work.”
FIFA recently rejected the nine-member interim body installed last month by Unisa Alim Sesay and set up by those unhappy with Johansen’s administration.
The body said it was running the affairs of Sierra Leone football until elections take place. These were supposed to happen this month but were postponed due to the Ebola crisis.
Sesay wrote to FIFA claiming his body was the new legitimate regime but FIFA threw their full weight behind Johansen who came into office in August, 2013.
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