February 21 – Issa Hayatou’s rival in next month’s Confederation of African Football (CAF) presidential election says he intends to totally overhaul the Continent’s financial transparency as he bids to bring to an end to the long autocratic reign of Issa Hayatou.
Taking a leaf out FIFA’s and UEFA’s book, Ahmad Ahmad (pictured), a former Madagascar government minister, says modernisation is the key to his election manifesto.
But there are still some questions over Ahmad’s own personal integrity, having been unveiled in a series of emails published by Wikileaks to have arranged for money from banned former FIFA vice president Mohammed Bin Hamman via recently banned Najeeb Chirakal.
At the time of writing it is unclear whether Ahmad had cleared the integrity test of FIFA’s Review Committee.
“Our football has been too strongly relying too much on its ‘official’ course since 1957, when CAF was created,” Ahmad told the Kwesi Sport website. “It is now high time for it to free itself and to update with the current situation.
“I will manage CAF in a modern and dynamic way while being fully transparent.”
At the heart of this will be financial accountability.
“All the financial elements will be known to all and presented and voted on a yearly basis at the general assembly,” he said. “Nothing will be hidden or covered during my mandate.”
“I will be a president who will share the burden of the CAF finances with the presidents of the member associations. This body, called the Special College of Presidents, will meet twice a year and will dictate the various expenses rules and general operations of CAF.”
In a familiar move, Ahmad also intends to set up a compliance department to screen senior employees. “All the managers of CAF must be submitted to eligibility and integrity controls before any elections are held.”
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