Dysfunctional System: Power Struggle Threatens Cameroon's Football

He will be signing his contract in a live broadcast event at 3 pm local time, as reported by the state television station CRTV. The Cameroon Football Federation (FECAFOOT), which has made its opposition to this decision by Minister Narcisse Mouelle Kombi clear, is expected not to proceed with the signing of the said contract. And to mark its disagreement, its emergency committee, during an ordinary session on April 6, authorized FECAFOOT President Samuel Eto'o (pictured) to appoint his own selector as head of the Indomitable Lions within the next 72 hours.

"Unanimously, the emergency committee recommends to the president of FECAFOOT to submit to him, in application of Articles 4 of Decree No. 2014/384 of September 26, 2014, and Article 40, Paragraph 11 of the FECAFOOT statutes, proposals for the appointment of members of the management structures of the national football selections within a period of seventy-two hours," the federation wrote in a statement. FECAFOOT asserts that not only was it not involved in the procedure that led to the recruitment of Marc Brys and other members of the Indomitable Lions' coaching staff, but that these appointments were made "outside of any legal and regulatory framework."

In a letter addressed on April 3 to the Minister of Sports - the day after Marc Brys' appointment - Samuel Eto'o reminded Narcisse Mouelle Kombi that the technical examination of applications for the position of coach is a competence devolved to the federation he heads, according to the terms of the decree of the president of the Republic of July 26, 2014, organizing and functioning of national football selections. "More precisely, in its article 3 (1), this regulatory act signed by President Paul Biya entrusts FECAFOOT with the administrative, sports, and technical management of national football selections. Our organization is therefore competent to receive, evaluate, and propose to the government authorities candidates for the positions concerned," writes the FECAFOOT boss. Consequently, he says, FECAFOOT cannot, in principle, "be a party to this act devoid of any legal basis and cannot compromise with supranational regulations, let alone with the legal and regulatory provisions in force in our country."

The Minister of Sports' reaction was not long in coming. In a letter addressed to Samuel Eto'o on April 5, Narcisse Mouelle Kombi replied that the decision to recruit Marc Brys and the technical, administrative, and medical staff of the Indomitable Lions was taken on the basis of Article 9 of the Minsep-FECAFOOT convention of February 5, 2015. This gives "full and complete latitude to the State to recruit and make available supervisors to its national football selections," he argues. And the government member specifies that the same process was used to appoint Clarence Seedorf, Toni Conceiçao, and Rigobert Song, "without this causing any controversy or attempt to obstruct by FECAFOOT."

Narcisse Mouelle Kombi also informs Eto'o that his ministry "has already taken all necessary and appropriate measures, in connection with other concerned state administrations, for the entry into function of the new coach-selector and other members of the coaching staff" of the Indomitable Lions he has appointed, and whose "very high hierarchy has approved the list." FECAFOOT's reaction is awaited.