Politique of Wednesday, 25 September 2013

Source: Cameroon Tribune

Court Orders Re-Run of Cycling Federation Polls

This follows complaints from two losing candidates at the elections.

The Mfoundi Court of Frst Instance has ordered a re-run of elections for the executive positions of the federation in compliance with the judgment of the Chamber of Arbitration and Conciliation of the National Olympic and Sports Committee and the committee put in place by the Minister of Sports and Physical Education to oversee elections in sports federations.

The decision of the court follows a complaint by two losing candidates at the elections, Ateba Koungou and Essono Thierry, who clamour for a repeat of the elections. Reacting to the decision, the communication officer for the cycling federation, Bouba Ngomna, said the plaintiffs would have taken their case to the International Court of Arbitration on Sports and not a civilian court. More so, the Ministry of Sports and Physical Education declared the Olympic committee incompetent to hear matters related to electoral litigations.

He added that the Chamber of Arbitration and Conciliation of the National Olympic and sports committee cancelled elections in about twelve sports federations and not only the cycling federation, hence the fate of the new bureau cannot be exempted from the others. It unlikely the court judgment will be implemented given that a similar civilian court verdict on the leadership tussle in Tonnerre Kalara club was neglected by football authorities, notably FECAFOOT and CAF on the principle that sports litigations are not supposed to be resolved through the law courts.

More so, the new management team at the helm of the cycling federation has received the blessing of the Minister of Sports and Physical Education in that he has been working with the new team to prepare for the next edition of the Grand Prix Chantal Biya. In addition, the International Cycling Union which was said to have suspended Cameroon, has designated the commissioner for the upcoming Chantal Biya cycling race, proof that the frozen relations between Cameroon and the world cycling body is beginning to thaw.

The new president of the federation, Moustapha Dogo is said visit the headquarters of ICU in the days ahead to iron out the pending differences and lay the ground work for a renewed cooperation.