President unimpressed by leaders

President unimpressed by leadersNPL and NFA ordered to fix problems The NPL and NFA leaders did not deliver any good news to the head of state yesterday. President Hage Geingob remains unmoved by the progress Namibian football leaders have made to get the Namibia Premier League (NPL) running.

The Head of State once again ordered the leaders to bring their house in order for the sake of football when the leaders paid him a courtesy visit yesterday.

This is barely four months after the Namibia Football Association (NFA) and other football leaders visited the State House.

In March, the NPL interim committee and the NFA assured the President that MTC has committed itself to a N$15 million sponsorship.

It was also revealed at that meeting in March that Namibia Breweries Limited (NBL) has agreed on a sponsorship deal towards the league.

However, as we stand, nothing concrete has been sealed and football in the country remains on hold.

The NFA yesterday explained to Geingob that negotiations between them and MTC have been concluded.

They informed the President that they await a response from MTC about the deal.

At a meeting that left an acrimonious look on many people faces, Geingob said: “The solving of football crises is in your hands.

“You must go back to the line ministry in order to solve this problem,” Geingob said.

One of the few things told to Geingob was that the NPL constitution was being reviewed by FIFA.

The NFA promised the president that they will hold an NPL executive elective congress as soon as FIFA is done with reviewing the document.

“We have forwarded the NPL constitution document to FIFA were it is being reviewed.

“The NFA expects the document to be back next week. After that, we will then hold an elective congress in July,” NFA president Frans Mbidi said.

It is alleged that the potential sponsors remain reluctant to sign the deal because of the events that transpired after the meeting in March.

The turn of events occurred when the NPL interim committee which had initially informed the President about the MTC and NBL deal was ousted by NFA.

The NFA then replaced the interim committee with an ad hoc committee responsible for insuring that the sponsorship deal is sealed.

Geingob yesterday questioned why the leaders came with the interim committee in March, if they knew that they were illegal.

Jesse Jackson Kauraisa