Karia: Transparency, integrity important

Dar es Salaam. The Tanzania Football Federation (TFF) recently elected its new leaders to serve in the next four years.

In the election in Dodoma, Wallace Karia scooped 95 votes to become president. He beat his five competitors. They are, with their votes in brackets, Shija Richard (3), Fredrick Mwakalebela, Imani Madega (8), Ally Mayay (9) and Emmanuel Kimbe (1).

Karia’s road to the TFF presidency was bumpy. Some of his rivals accused him of being a Somali national in an attempt to bar him from competing. He had to be summoned to the Immigration Department, which cleared him.

Although some people claim Karia is a newcomer in soccer that is not the case as he held various posts in football organisations.

He even played soccer in his boyhood. Having been a government official, he is familiar with administrative matters and therefore can steer TFF to success.

Karia has pledged to build a strong institution and target the youth and women in develop football.

Who is Karia?

Wallace Karia was born on August 19, 1963 in Tanga. He studied at Sahare and Magati and Kana primary schools and completed Standard Seven in 1980.

He later joined Popatlal Secondary School for O and A levels. He completed in 1987. He then joined Ruvu National Service camp and later 831 KJ Chang’ombe, Dar es Salaam.

After completing his National Service stint, he joined then-Dar es Salaam School of Accountancy, now Tanzania Institute of Accountancy for a diploma course, which he completed in 1990.

In 1993, he joined Institute of Finance Management for a postgraduate diploma course in accountancy. He then studied various courses at Arusha Institute of Accountancy and later did National Board of Accountants and Auditors examinations.

In 2009, he did his MBA in Logistics Management at Coventry University before studying administration courses in China and Japan.

Karia was employed in 1990 in the Ministry of Finance. He worked with the Tanga Coastal Conservation Programme as the chief accountant and in 204 worked with Tanga Municipality.

He also worked in Kiteto District Council and later at the Prime Minister’s Office (Regional Administration and Local Government).

In 2013, he became the Mvomero District Council director. He worked in Bukoba as the district director and Kagera regional commissioner chief accountant.

Before he vied for the TFF presidency, he was Morogoro Region’s chief accountant.

Involvement

Karia played with Chui, Usagara Shooting and Coastal Union youth teams.

He also played at school, college and National Service.

He is experienced in football leadership as he served as a treasurer with Coastal Union and Tanga Regional Football Association (TRFA).

In 2000 he became a treasurer of sports committees of Tanga District and Tanga Region.

He represented TRFA in the TFF general meeting in 2004 before serving as a club representative in Manyara District.

He later beat football leader Abdul Sauko to become a TFF committee member in 2008.

In 2013, he became the Tanzania Premier League Board (TPLB) chairman before becoming the TFF vice president.

His leadership focus

According to him, transparency, integrity, accountability and development are tools of developing soccer.

He said personnel would be motivated to work hard to accelerate soccer development.

“You cannot attain your targets without being accountable and transparent.”

He has pledged to use the world soccer governing body’s funds to develop football and improve income of their affiliate bodies.

He explained that football needs committed leaders who are ready to work round the clock to make stakeholders happy.

“We need to feature in all international competitions and qualify in finals. It’s 37 years since we qualified for the Africa Cup of Nations finals. We competed in the finals of U-17 [Serengeti Boys], but that is not enough. We need to maintain that streak while ensuring other teams like U-20 in men and women qualify for continental championships.”

The Tanzania Football Federation, previously Football Association of Tanzania, controls national soccer teams. It was founded in 1930 and has been affiliated with Fifa since 1964. Its immediate former president was Jamal Malinzi who succeeded Leodegar Tenga in October 2013. Malinzi is facing fraud charges.