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By Majuto Omary
The Citizen Reporter
Dar es Salaam. African Lyon have issued an ultimatum to the Tanzania Football Federation (TFF) that failure to resolve their complaints would result in them withdrawing from the Vodacom Premier League.
Speaking exclusively to The Citizen yesterday, African Lyon owner Rahim Kangezi accused the TFF of “unfair” treatment and increasingly turning a blind eye to various concerns that hurt his club.
Kangezi said after considering carefully a series of “poor decisions” against African Lyon, the leadership was mulling over pulling out of the premiership. He alleged that the TFF was serving the interests of a few clubs, thus placing smaller ones like African Lyon at a disadvantage.
The club owner claimed that Mbwana Samatta’s sale to TP Mazembe of DR Congo did not follow the established procedures, thus denying his team a chunk of change.
Kangezi reiterated that Mbwana was a legal African Lyon player, thus his club deserved all the TP Mazembe’s cash, but the soccer body ruled in favour of Simba where the player was on loan.
After marathon meetings, the TFF put the Samata saga to rest with each striker’s previous clubs of African Lyon and Kimbangulile required to get 5 per cent of the Sh150 million transfer fee.
“I wrote over 10 letters to the TFF about the sale of Samata without response and when the ruling came, it did not take our complaints into consideration,” according to Kangezi.He said: “The TFF ignored us and made their decision after Kimbangulile also demanded the solidarity contribution, this trend shows how unfair the federation is.”
However, the TFF legal, ethics and players committee chairman, Alex Mgongolwa, rubbished the Kangenzi’s claims, stressing that African Lyon will get nothing more, for the issue was already sorted out.“His claims are baseless, all parties met and put the Samata controversy to rest, I wonder why it is emerging again,” he said.Apart from the Samata saga, Kangezi complained about their budding striker Yusuf Soka who flew to Sweden for trials at AFC Athletics Club Academy.
He said the TFF once again “disrespected” them by allowing the player to go to Sweden without the club’s approval.
“The club denied him permission to go for trials, but the soccer controlling body stepped in and gave Soka a go-ahead, this is unjust and we can’t keep on being submissive to them.
“I think it’s high time we pulled out of the league because the TFF can’t decide our issues in a fair way,” Kangezi stressed.Reports had it that Soka, who rose through the ranks of the TFF’s academy, TSA, went missing in Sweden after failing professional trails. Kangezi promised to convene a press conference tomorrow and make their stand known by members of the public. Kangezi also expressed his disappointment after the TFF failed to pay them Sh5.5 million they were entitled for being the most disciplined team of the 2009/10 season.
“The club has not received a single cent from the TFF, we don’t know how they spent our money because other clubs got theirs,” he said.He also complained about league fixtures, which he said did not consider African Lyon’s financial strength.
“We will have to go to the Lake Zone twice when the league resumes, it’s costly for a team like ours. I think they should have arranged the fixtures in such a way that we can travel once and play all matches there,” he said.
The Dar strugglers will lock horns with Toto Africa on February 5 at Kirumba Stadium before they return for the Kagera Sugar match at Kaitaba Stadium on April 14.
However, TFF director of competition Saad Kawemba advised the African Lyon leadership to communicate with them on their concerns instead of threatening to withdraw from the league.
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