Lamin
Kabba Bajo, president of the Gambia Football Federation, has refuted claims
made by Youth and Sports Minister Henry Gomez, saying the minister’s statement
was “misleading and contrary to the reality”.
Bajo
said the minister requested them to submit documents of the project they are
embarking on and they did that since last week but “are yet to receive any
official communication” from the minister’s office.
Minister
Gomez, in an interview with The Point published yesterday, said GFF claimed
that it had rehabilitated the FIFA Goal Project to the tune of D7 million but
“today it has only a toilet, a fence, and some windows and roofs”.
According
to the minister, GFF claimed to have invested US$500,000, equivalent to about
D20 million, of which US$325,000 was spent on furniture.
In
view of the foregoing, the sports minister called for the investigation of the
FIFA Goal Project and for the GFF to tell Gambian youth when they are going to
deliver the Goal Project to them.
Surprised
and disappointed
In
his swift reaction, the GFF President Bajo said they were surprised and
disappointed to read the minister’s comments in the media.
He
said the premise of the minister’s argument was an indication that he had been
misinformed and that the minister should have reached out to them at the GFF
directly before making such “misleading comments” in the media.
According
to Bajo, the GFF never received subvention from The Gambia government since he
and his executive committee assumed office three years ago.
“They
[the government] only once in a while pay for the allowances and air tickets of
the players directly to travel agents,” he said.
The
GFF president said they never had any problem with the sports minister and are
committed to maintaining the cordial relations that exist between the GFF and
the minister.
Bajo
said in spite of their good intention towards the sports minister, he never
paid them a courtesy call even though GFF had formed a delegation to pay him a
courtesy call at his office.
“The
minister only paid us a surprised visit unannounced during which we have a long
chat and he said he would pay us a courtesy call,” the GFF president said,
adding that during the surprised visit, the minister expressed satisfaction
with GFF and commended them for their work.
He
said in view of this, the minister should have contacted or written to them at
the GFF directly than going to the media to create “bad blood” among them.
He
further explained that the GFF has fully funded two international friendly
matches between The Gambia and Guinea Bissau and it would also fund the games
against Mali in the qualifiers.
“We
know the government is constrained and as such, we are ready to complement them
fully,” he asserted.
Unfortunate
MGI termination
Commenting
on The Gambia government’s termination of the international gateway contract
with MGI, Bajo said the termination was “unfortunate” as MGI was the main
sponsor of the senior national football team and it also used to pay the head
coach of the team.
However,
he said, GFF would look for alternative source of support to continue to
maintain the services of the head coach.
