CECAFA blames its woes on regional states

The Council of East and Central Africa Football Associations (CECAFA) secretary general, Nicholas Musonye has blamed the East African countries for the regional football governing body’s failure to organise tournaments for the past two years. Musonye made the remarks in an interview with BBC last week where he put the blame for the crisis in East and Central Africas regional body firmly at the door of the four key member states; Rwanda, Kenya, Uganda and Tanzania. For two years now, CECAFA has failed to stage its two main annual competitions-the CECAFA Senior Challenge Cup and the Kagame Club Championship, which Musonyi faults on the football administrators from the four nations. The long-serving secretary general said dark clouds descended on CECAFA after the 2015 elections which saw the president of Sudanese FA, Muatasim Gafe, take over as regional boss. He accused the four countries of undermining progress and exacerbating the crisis by their attitude towards Gafes leadership. Im in charge of 12 countries, all of them being equal but Kenya, Uganda, Tanzania and Rwanda think theyre more equal than others,” Musonyi told BBC. He noted that, The president of Sudan was elected president of CECAFA in an open and free election; these members decided that they cannot support the new president.” If they want to kill CECAFA, let them do it, its their baby, its their organisation. Member associations of CECAFA dont even pay their annual fees - they dont pay participation fee either, they want to play for free, Musonye further revealed. When contacted, FERWAFA Spokesperson, Prosper Ruboneza told Times Sport that; “I also read that article but the federation cannot comment on such, if there is anything that we are accused of, CECAFA knows the channel and correspondences to communicate to us, so I can’t say anything.” The 12 member states that form the CECAFA block include Burundi, Djibouti, Eritrea, Ethiopia, Kenya, Rwanda, Somalia, South Sudan, Sudan, Tanzania, Uganda and Zanzibar. editorial@newtimes.co.rw

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CECAFA blames its woes on regional states