The Botswana Football Association’s (BFA) efforts to settle out of court a matter with former national team assistant coach Keitumetse “Pio” Paul has taken a shift.
Sunday Standard has established that the BFA had early this month short-listed Paul for an interview at Lekidi Centre for a technical officer post.
However, the BFA and Paul failed to agree on certain terms. The predicament has led to uncertainty over terms of agreement over a case of defamation and unfair dismissal between Paul and the BFA.
Sources close to the local football governing body unearthed that the technical officer position was a move by the BFA seeking to negotiate a better deal with Paul to settle out of court.
The Paul and BFA feud is a result of the sacking of the former Zebras assistant coach and defamation which the former dragged to the court of law.
‘’The BFA had shortlisted Paul for an interview but he objected to the panel assigned to interview him. Despite objecting he assured that he would carry on with the interview but with an objection which is not a hitch with labour laws. Instead of the panel forging ahead with the interview, they declined to proceed with the procedure,” a source told Sunday Standard.
It is said that the other predicament that led to the objection was due to qualifications of the panel that conducted the interviews. “The feud was bound to ensue as the panellists were under qualified than Paul and the fact that the post was of a junior officer,” said the source.
Speaking to Paul in an interview, the pint-sized gaffer said he was not fighting with the BFA and can’t comment much on the matter.
“I have never said anyone is unqualified and don’t want anyone to think I am attacking the association. I have a case with the association in court so there is nothing much to say,” said Paul.
BFA Spokesperson Tumo Mpatane confirmed that Paul was short listed for the position due to his astonishing experience. However, Mpatane rather opted not to divulge much on the cause of the aborted interview.
“Paul was short listed because his CV was appealing like all other candidates not for any other reason,” said Mpatane. He further cited that the matter is between them and Paul and could not be communicated to a third party.
‘’We believe issues of employment at the BFA should stay between us and our employees and such internal matters are for us as an association to deal with,” Mpatane said.
