New rule will protect CAF, says Ntagungira

Rwanda football federation boss Celestin Ntagungira has stated that the newly adopted CAF election regulation is not aimed at supporting ailing president Issa Hayatou re-election bid but to protect the image of the institution.Rwanda was among the federations which took part in the CAF extraordinary congress in the Seychelles last weekend. The Congress was aimed at amending a rule stipulating that future presidents shall be chosen from the 15 Confederation of African Football executive committee members.The amendment to the CAF statutes, which consequently rules out Ivory Coast FA president Jacques Anouma, states that those members without Executive Committee voting rights are not eligible to run for the continent’s football top job.However, Ntagungira, a former FIFA and CAF referee told Times Sport, “The passing of the rule restricting eligibility for the top job is solely to help in protect the image of CAF as an institution.”“Just like the case here (Rwanda), where we have regulations that govern people who aspire for Ferwafa presidency. So in a bid to have a competent continental football body, not everyone should come from anywhere to run the institution.“Every issue discussed during the CAF Congress was to help take African football to the next level,” added the former international referee.Forty-four nations voted for the amendment, which was proposed by Algerian Football Federation President Mohamed Raouraoua, with six voting against and one abstention.Hayatou, from Cameroon, has already announced his intention to stand for four more years when the next elections are held in Morocco next year to extend his reign to nearly four decades.The obvious knock-on effect is that Hayatou, who has run African football for 35 years but has been tarnished by allegations of corruption, will be re-elected unopposed next year.Last year, Hayatou was reprimanded by the International Olympic Committee (IOC) for having accepted kickbacks from FIFA’s former marketing partner ISL although he claimed the money was to fund CAF 40th anniversary celebrations.

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New rule will protect CAF, says Ntagungira