The new Confederation of African Football (CAF) President, Ahmad, has refused to receive any salary from Africa’s football governing body.
While holding his first senior CAF meeting in preparation for the FIFA conference scheduled to take place on Thursday, May 11th, the 57-year-old revealed that he won’t be taking any salary as it does not show good leadership.
[perfectpullquote align=”full” cite=”” link=”” color=”” class=”” size=””]”I have refused a CAF salary for the simple reason it doesn’t respect good administration. The salaries of all CAF employees from administrators, to the executive committee, and president, all have to be transparent,”[/perfectpullquote]
Ahmad revealed to BBC Sports.
“First we must review the standards of management so that we can apply the reforms.”
The 57-year-old also discussed the idea of ‘ceding of power’ to the association presidents, describing them as the “Sovereign Body” who should be able to account for their respective countries.
“There is a big tendency to monopolize power in the executive committee.
“I’m sorry to tell you when I was part of the CAF Executive Committee, there was no separation of powers – the judicial body, the executive one and the congress – and we have to respect the independence of each body.
“It has to be reviewed and reformed with new statutes for CAF so that everyone can concentrate on their proper tasks,” he added.
He went ahead to voice his concerns about the popularity of the Africa Cup of Nations tournament saying the competition risks being overshadowed by African Nations Championship (CHAN).
Ahmad later proposed holding a symposium to make a full review of all competitions organized by CAF with equal representation to discuss changes to be implemented by CAF.
“The symposium will be made up of representatives from all parts of African football so we can discuss what we are going to do in all the competitions – AFCON, CHAN, the youth tournaments and the women’s events.”
With many agreeing with his idea, the symposium is set to be held in Morocco on 15-16 July 2017 to be followed by a CAF Executive Committee the next day to discuss the implementation of the main resolutions passed the previous day.
“So we are going to review all of that and we will take a decision that suits everyone so that this competition is valued again and attracts more resources and attracts bigger audiences in Africa,” Ahmad adds.
Ahmad who is also the President of the Malagasy Football Federation made his mark after turning around Madagascar’s football governing body and such a bold stand is evidence he intends to do the same for the continent.
Featured photo: Getty Images
