By S. Siapha Mulbah
The local house in Liberia has approved the passage of the Football Association budget in the tune of US 6,163,731 with 13 voting stakeholders constituting 34.2 percent of the voters voting against the passage of the financial instrument.
At an extraordinary congress held by the football governing body over the weekend at its headquarters, members of the football sector including government official and club administrators as well as the LFA leadership gathered to take key sessions that will focus on the governance of football in the country for the year under review.
The biggest decision taken by the body was the passage of the budget looking at the urgency of running activities and the cost of maintaining the workings of the association under the 2023/2024 which was done in a democratic manner with 38 representatives of clubs and other football stakeholders present at the event participating.
The voting was done by the naming of clubs and stakeholder’s institutions in attendance taking response of yes, no or abstain from their respective representative after the announcement of the name of the congress voting right group under football association.
25 of the total votes cast for the passage of the LFA over six million budget constituting 65.8 put smiles on the faces of the president of the football association along with his executive committee members after they responded yes which was in favor of their quest to run football activities as an association for the year.
Those voting no to the passage of the budget explained that the Football Association reportedly manipulated the system and purported an unrealistic budget that they see as further suppression to clubs and increase in salaries LFA leadership and staffers.
Kallon Football Club president Cassell Kouh and the Chairman of the Club Presidents Association Chris Weah term the voting process introduced by the FA president as tactics to scare stakeholders from standing against voting to correct the ills in Liberian football.
Yet the both football stakeholders described getting votes against the will and pleasure of the LFA leadership as a big win for football in Liberia and called more engagements for oppositions to the current administration to have the Mustapha Raji regime terminated in the 2026 elective congress.
Cassell Kouh noted that getting more than 10 congress members to look in the face of the FA to say no to decisions imposed to them had been a challenge over the years and with the heavy wave of insincerity in some club administrators there are still people committed to correcting the wrong at the Football association.
“Gone are those day that you will have only few persons standing to say no to the FA president imposing on them voting decisions. The budget has lots of discrepancy and we need some of those unrealistic budgetary allotments shifted to the clubs rather than leaving it with the FA leadership for no reason,” the stakeholders noted.
For his part, the president of the Liberia Football Association Mustapha Raji said his administration is for the betterment of football in Liberia as he gave thanks to the stakeholders for approving the budget to allow activities run well in the country.
According Raji, a single vote against the passage of the budget single some level of displeasure to the football house because the financial instrument works in the interest of all those concern with football administration in Liberia with the clubs getting the actual returns on everything captured.
He added that democracy is a tendency of good government which is why the FA administration is working to have all stakeholders expressing their will through voting processes transparently without interferences.
“Any attempt to have had a majority voting against the passage of the budget could have meant to put a halt to football running in Liberia till congress can make a determination. It will mean that our representatives at CAF competitions don’t get the cost to participate in the competitions. Again that democracy but it is good that the stakeholders voted the passage,” LFA president intimated.
