The suspension of four African FIFA members for breaking the FIFA code of ethics has not only shamed African football but could put it into trouble, Inas Mazhar reports Last week, the FIFA Ethics Committee banned six football officials from taking part in any football-related activity, administrative, sports or any other for periods of between one to four years after they were found to have breached various articles of the FIFA Code of Ethics. Four of the six officials are Africans. The decision, taken during a three-day meeting of the Ethics Committee held in Zurich, affected Tahiti's Reynald Temarii, FIFA vice-president; Nigeria's Amos Adamu, FIFA Executive Committee member; Tunisia's Slim Aloulou, chairman of the FIFA Dispute Resolution Chamber and member of the FIFA Players' Status Committee; Tonga's Ahongalu Fusimalohi, general secretary of the Tonga FA; Mali's Amadou Diakite, member of the FIFA Referees Committee; and Botswana's Ismael Bhamjee, CAF honorary member. Four years ago, Bhamjee lost his FIFA executive committee seat for selling tickets of the 2006 World Cup in Germany at the black market. Obviously Bhamjee never learnt his lesson. FIFA had opened proceedings against Adamu and Temarii on 18 October after Britain's Sunday Times revealed that both officials had asked for money in return for their votes in the 2018 and 2022 voting for the selection of the World Cup host nations of these two editions. FIFA had then requested the Ethics Committee to conduct an independent, in- depth investigation into the matter. After the Ethics Committee examined the information related to alleged agreements between member associations and their Bid Committees in relation to the 2018 and 2022 World Cup bidding process, the Ethics Committee provisionally suspended the six officials. The violations and suspensions have stained Africa's soccer reputation, not least after FIFA has tried to light up the Dark Continent. The past two years have been the years of Africa as FIFA presented it the honour, through South Africa, of staging the first ever World Cup. Several other football events took place in the continent in 2009 and 2010 -- the U20 World Cup in Egypt, the U17 World Cup in Nigeria, the FIFA Confederation Cup in South Africa, all culmination in the World Cup in South Africa. Other projects including the 'Football for Hope', '1Goal' and 'the Goal Project' in addition to the African Broadcasting Academy, all launched in Africa during the past years. FIFA invested huge amounts of money in these events and projects for the sake of African football. And the result? Top football officials who are supposed to be running African football. But those suspended by FIFA might not be the only ones. There could be others who are working for their own good and not for the sake of the game. In Tunisia the writer attended the final of the African Champions League between Esperance of Tunisia and TP Mazembe of the Congo in Rades. African officials were badly received by the Tunisian fans who claimed CAF President Eissa Hayatou and his men were biased against the North Africans. Riots broke out in the stadium the moment Hayatou and his entourage entered the stadium and were seen in the VIP box. The Tunisians were furious at the refereeing which they say cost them the trophy. The claims were apparently backed up when Mali's Diakite, a FIFA member of refereeing committee and the chairman of CAF's refereeing committee, was one of the officials later suspended. BBC's Farayi Mungazi described African football like a boxer looking in the mirror the morning after a fight and examining his face to see how badly he has been bruised. Mungazi, a Zimbabwean, wrote on BBC online, "It does not need a genius to conclude that the punishments handed down to Amos Adamu and three other African officials by FIFA have cast a dark shadow over the African game. "For a continent still basking in the glory of hosting its first ever World Cup, the suspensions of the officials represent an almighty kick in the teeth. "All of which means CAF president Hayatou finds himself with the unenviable task of rebuilding his organisation's image and salvaging the continent's dignity. "This is an institution that splits opinion right down the middle, whether it be internally in Africa or around the world. "Winning back the trust of fans is, therefore, an immensely difficult challenge; one that requires a radical transformation of CAF and the way it conducts business. "Whether or not people agree with the methods employed by The Sunday Times, no one doubts that the damage inflicted by the newspaper's sting will take time to dissipate." Osasu Obayiuwana is a Nigerian journalist who has warned this reporter several times about Adamu and how he had always believed he was not a "good African representative in FIFA."When Adamu was found guilty, Obayiuwana told Al-Ahram Weekly, "I warned (FIFA boss Sepp) Blatter, personally, about Adamu in December 2006. I told him the FIFA exec had a very dishonorable man amongst them. To be honest, a three-year ban is too little. He should have been kept away from football for life!" "Looking at things from an African perspective, it is clear that Hayatou is in real trouble, as Aloulou and Diakite (as well as Adamu) are his right hand men. Next year's CAF elections in Khartoum are going to be very tough but I hope the scandal will help change African football for the better," Obayiuwana said. Next year's executive committee elections will take place during the General Assembly scheduled to be held in Khartoum, Sudan on 23 February. With Adamu, Diakite and Aloulou being banned by FIFA from taking part in any football activity, and the due retirement of South Africa's Molefi Oliphant and Seyi Memene of Togo, nine executive committee seats will be vacant for other CAF candidates to run for when all the 52 member associations meet in three months. The hope is that the coming elections will stitch together the tattered reputation of African football.
