The banning of the CAF president, Ahmad Ahmad is not a surprise and is synonymous with African football. On Monday the CAF president and FIFA vice president were banned from all football activities for five years by FIFA ethics committee.
Local football commentator, Aupa Mokotedi observed that CAF and African football in general have a long history of corruption.
“The suspension of CAF’s most senior official on allegations of corruption is therefore not surprising. For a very long time, mafia culture was very entrenched in African football under former CAF president, Issa Hayatou supported by football oligarchs in Zurich. The fall of the football emperors at FIFA a few years ago which ushered in new broom under current president, G. Infantino left the brown envelop officials over exposed without a shield,” observed Mokotedi.
Mokotedi who shuns corruption and unethical conduct further added “this development, I hope will have positive impact across African football. I believe it marks the beginning of a cleansing process. Hopefully even issues of maltreatment where teams are often made to wait for as much as 10 hours in airports will come to an end.”
Jimmy George another football analyst like Mokotedi says he is not surprised by the CAF president being banned. “Our leadership is not ethical and it is not surprising but embarrassing. The continent is synonymous with corruption,” says George.
The banning of the continental football boss is just a tip of the iceberg: “Many African football associations/federations are rotten to the core, they need corruption and unethical conduct to be rooted out. The state of the African football is not sellable because of corruption and wanting leadership,” observed George.
Both commentators believe that African football is stalled by corruption and greedy leaders who fail to develop football but look to enrich themselves.
According to the FIFA website, “Ahmad had breached his duty of loyalty, offered gifts and other benefits, mismanaged funds and abused his position as the CAF President, pursuant to the FIFA Code of Ethics. Former CAF president Issa Hayatou was also banned from Football activities by FIFA in 2015 for corruption and other unethical conduct.