Errant FAs Face Ban from Cecafa Events - Musonye

CECAFA Secretary General Nicholas Musonye

The Secretary General of the Council for East and Central African Football (Cecafa), Nicholas Musonye has warned all members to stop riding on football to instead go to other countries to seek for refugee status for their teams.

This comes in the wake of developments in Uganda last week when the government finally granted refugee status to the Eritrean national football team members who vanished in Kampala last December during the 2012 Cecafa Tusker Senior Challenge Cup.

Musonye urged members not to allow selfish persons with their own agendas to tarnish the name of football.

Musonye said they are going to become very strict with member countries that belong to Cecafa so that in case they are suspicious of their players disappearing when they go for tournaments, then they should opt out. Musonye warned that severe penalties were in the offing for member nations that fail to honour their football commitments. He said the body was well aware some FA officials sometimes plan these disappearing acts with players.

Last week the Commissioner for Refugees in the Office of the Prime Minister, Apollo David Kazungu in Uganda said that the Refugee Eligibility Committee had found the claims by the Eritrean players valid and granted them refugee status.

The Eritrean team had been eliminated in the tournament and instead 17 of them vanished from their hotel refusing to return to Asmara.

Musonye wondered why it is mainly Eritrea that is having this problem of players vanishing in the region. He said Cecafa might consider barring their teams from participating in its events because they are becoming a problem.