December 13 – The bitter in-fighting over who runs Sierra Leone football, and the future of the federation president Isha Johansen appears to have died down following pressure from FIFA to allow her to carry on even though her mandate officially expired in August.
Last month FIFA intervened to overturn a decision to remove Isha Johansen (pictured with FIFA general secretary Fatma Samoura) from her role as president – right in the middle of a court case in which she is charged with corruption and abuse of FIFA funds.
The Sierra Leone Football Association (SFLA) executive had ruled that both Johansen and her general secretary Christopher Kamara should be set aside during the trial brought by the country’s Anti-Corruption Commission (ACC).
The case still ongoing with a verdict still to be reached but appears to have stalled amid local reports quoting a letter from FIFA “strongly” urging that the SLFA “should continue to operate with no interference.”
“FIFA urges the relevant Sierra Leone authorities in particular the Ministry of Sports and the Anti Corruption Commission to allow the SLFA to conduct its affairs and activities without unnecessary obstruction as no FIFA regulations have been contravened with regards to the FIFA funding,” the letter reportedly stated.
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