…CONCACAF and FIFA to probe local association
BASSETERRE, St. Kitts - SIX months into the job and the Atiba Harris-led St. Kitts-Nevis Football Association is in the middle of a regional debate that is leading to two probes into the hiring of its new Technical Director, Ahmed Mohamed.
The Confederation of North, Central America and Caribbean Association Football (CONCACAF) and the FIFA are said to be probing how Mohamed was hired by the SKNFA after it was revealed that several sexual allegations were levelled against him while he served with the Barbados Football Association.
This came after the UK Guardian filed a report that several allegations were made against him by female players before he tendered his resignation last year.
Thst led to the questions of why Mohammed was hired by the SKNFA when he was under a cloud of suspicion and also why he was allowed to leave Barbados if he was being probed over these allegations?
But the SKNFA President has lashed out at the Guardian’s report, describing it as being malicious since due diligence was carried out prior to the hiring of Mohamed.
The President took to Freedom FM’s ‘Issues’ programme to address the controversy and indicated that all proper protocols were followed in hiring the new Technical Director.
“Prior to hiring Mr. Ahmed Mohamed as the SKNFA’s Director of Football, the SKNFA conducted a serious and fulsome due diligence exercise involving consultations with members of the Barbados Football Association, CONCACAF and other persons who knew Mr. Mohamed personally,” the SKNFA said in a media statement.
“The SKNFA was, and remains, fully satisfied that Mr. Mohamed is of good character – the allegations made against him being false – and he has the requisite technical ability to perform his functions to take SKNFA football to higher levels,” the statement added.
It must be noted that no media reports out of Barbados had indicated that he was charged with any crime.
The SKNFA in its statement acknowledged “the seriousness of the allegations referenced in the article, but we are of the firm belief that the article was maliciously contrived by a certain faction of persons who wish to tarnish the good name of the SKNFA and our recently appointed Director of Football”.
Now CONCACAF has flashed a yellow card to the appointment, writing in a press statement that “with extreme surprise and concern, we have noted that the St. Kitts-Nevis Football Association (SKNFA), through various mediums, has affirmed that ‘CONCACAF’ was consulted in relation to the hiring of Mr. Ahamed Mohamed as a Technical Director of the SKNFA”.
Against that backdrop, they red carded the SKNFA’s statement, “unequivocally” denying that was the cases in point.
“In this respect, we want to unequicocally reaffirm and stress, as we have done in recent days, that no one in the CONCACAF administration was or has been consulted,” it noted.
The local footballing body reassured that it would “continue to create an environment where our players, male and female, can achieve their maximum potential in a safe, fun and professional environment”.
But that may not be enough, as one parent reportedly took to the airwaves to voice his concern with the appointment.
