Sierra Leone: FIFA boss pushes football transparency

By Alpha Kamara

DAKAR, Senegal

The boss of the football’s governing body FIFA is in Sierra Leone to meet with football authorities and the government over match-fixing allegations and other issues.

FIFA Secretary General Fatma Samoura called for transparency in the game, adding that as the country gets $1.2 million annually from FIFA for developing football, it should be used properly, according to a Monday statement by the Sierra Leone Football Association.

In a visit that started Saturday, she also talked about FIFA’s new anti-corruption drive, urging the nation’s governing football body to be transparent and settle their differences like a family.

Last month, Sierra Leone's anti-graft agency arrested Isha Johansen, head of the Sierra Leone Football Association and Africa’s only female football association president, and her management team over allegations of misusing FIFA funds. She was later released without charge.

In 2014, the Sports Ministry and the Football Association suspended 14 national players and officials, including then-captain Ibrahim Kargbo, over allegations of match-fixing in a 2010 World Cup qualifier against South Africa.

The players all denied the charge and were released while the investigation continued.

Before leaving later today, Samoura will meet with Sierra Leonean President Ernest Bai Koroma at State House.