CAF’s shameful decision

THE Confederation of Africa Football (CAF) with its old President, Issah Hayatou, last week slapped a four-year ban on the Togolese national team – the Hawks – following Togo’s decision to withdraw from the just ended 27th Orange African Cup of Nations, hosted in Angola. The ban therefore implies that Togo will not participate in the 2012 and 2014 tournaments of the African Cup of Nations respectively.
TOGO, which was in the same group (Group B) with Ghana, Burkina Faso and Ivory Coast, withdrew late from the 2010 nation’s cup in Angola, following an attack by a militant group on them at the oil rich Cabinda province. The attack on the Hawks resulted in the death of two of their members – the team’s communication director and the assistant coach, whilst the second goal keeper of the team was seriously injured.
IT was because of this unfortunate incident that the Hawks exited from the competition. Not until that all was clear that Togo was a full participant of the tourney and was going to honour its preliminary matches, especially at the group stage. Therefore, the fact must be established that Togo, prior to the start of the tourney, did not show any signs of chickening out of the competition, at least not before the attack. So that defeats the argument by some that Togo deliberately withdrew from the competition.
WHILST sympathising with the Hawks for their loss, we are indeed appalled by CAF’s decision to ban Togo. That decision of CAF is most unfortunate and makes the organisation a laughable one in the eyes of the world.
IN the first place we want to find out what informed CAF to take that decision. By CAF’s decision on Togo it is clear that it is more concerned about the game and making more money than the security of the playing teams. We think that CAF should bow its head in shame for failing to provide adequate security for one of the participating countries, and going ahead to take such a bad decision.
WHAT the organization should have done is to apologise unreservedly to the people of Togo and pay the national team of Togo adequate compensation. What CAF has done is that it has added insult to injury by meting out this hasty and harsh decision to Togo. Their action is harmful to the development of football on the African continent.
HOWEVER, it is not too late we hope CAF would rescind its decision as early as possible to send the right signals to countries which will be participating in tournaments such as this. We should bear in mind that what happened to Togo could have happened to any of the participating countries in the tournament.
CAF claims that it took the decision based on the rules of the game. The simple question we want to ask CAF is this: Can the Cup of Nation tournaments come to life if there are no teams? The obvious answer is absolute no, and this is one CAF itself cannot ignore.
FOOTBALL is one sporting event that brings people together irrespective of their colour or creed. It is therefore imperative that we do things that will enhance the game, especially in Africa and not things which will lower the standard of the game in Africa. It is in this wise that we are taking a swipe at Hayatou’s decision of banning Togo four years.
WE further urge every African country that believes that football promotes peace and unity to urge CAF to rescind its decision on Togo. We can definitely not develop football in Africa with such insensitive decisions.