Gaborone - The Botswana Football Association (BFA) is at the centre of controversy following a trip that was undertaken by its President David Fani and Vice President Vincent Seretse. The trip has rubbed some people in the football fraternity and the media the wrong way.
Speaking to the media in Gaborone this week Fani explained that they were invited to Dohah, Qatar, by Hamman, President of Asian Football Confederation (AFC) Mahommed Bin Hamman.
"We went there at the invitation of Hamman who is marketing his country to bid for the 2022 World Cup. The invitation was to market their country to bid for the 2022 World Cup and over 30 African countries went to Kuala-Lumpur, Qatar, at the invitation of Hamman," said Fani.
Fani confirmed that they also had a bilateral meeting with Hamman on how they can benefit from him personally.
He said the trip undertaken in December and was fully sanctioned by the BFA national executive committee refuting widely spread allegations that the NEC was divided over the issue.
Fani confirmed that they went to Qatar with their spouses, something that did not go down well with some top officials at the Lekidi Football Centre, which is the BFA headquarters.
He explained that the visit was deemed necessary for networking and relationship building purposes and was, contrary to the belief of some people, properly sanctioned by the National Executive Committee (NEC.
"The invitation had stated that the two officers visiting Doha, Qatar, should be accompanied by their spouses and indeed some delegates brought their families. Hammam had explained that he invited members of football associations to foster friendship and to market his country as a viable venue for the 2022 FIFA World Cup," he said.
Fani further told reporters that NEC has since been given a report on the trip, which attracted attention from some quarters who alleged that the duo, who went with their spouses, were on a holiday.
"In order to remove what we see as misunderstanding of the purpose of the visit, deliberate or not, we found it necessary to brief you (the media) on the visit," Fani said.
He said the Botswana delegation had a bilateral meeting with Hammam to discuss matters specific to Botswana football.
"This included the possibility of the Botswana Under-23 and Zebras going for training camps in Qatar in preparation for the 2012 Olympic Games and 2012 Africa Cup of Nations (AFCON)," he said.
However, members of the media were not convinced by Fani's explanation and brought his attention to the allegations that Hamman was a controversial character who might have used the trip for his own benefits. There are allegations Hamman has ambitions to topple the current FIFA president Sepp Blatter at the next FIFA executive committee elections.
