Liberia Football Association (LFA) President Mustapha Raji has waived his statutory rights covered in Article 39.1 and Article 45.2 of the LFA approved statutes, shortening his term of office to April 2022 instead of September 2022.
Raji’s decision followed after the LFA Executive Committee (Exco)on June 30, 2021, proposed an extraordinary congress aimed at discussing and specifically setting a date for the holding of the LFA’s elective congress in 2022.
It may be recalled, the LFA held its elections on April 18, 2018, which saw the elections of the Vice-President for Administration, the Vice-President for Operations and the ten other Exco members, excluding the President, due to legal issues.
The civil law court of Liberia placed a stay order on LFA’s runoff presidential election as a result of an application to the court from defeated Presidential Candidate George Solo.
An extraordinary congress was later held on September 8, which saw the election of Raji as President of the LFA.
The mandate of the two vice presidents and the ten other Exco members began on April 18, 2018, while Raji’s mandate began on September 8, 2018, thus giving him the statutory right to remain in office as president of the LFA until September 2022.
Article 45.2 of the LFA approved statute states that, “The President shall be elected by the congress for a period of four years. His/her term of office shall begin after the end of the congress at which he/she was elected. No person may serve as President for more than three terms of office (whether consecutive or not). Previous terms served as Vice President or as a member of the Executive Committee shall not be considered in determining the term limits of the President
“I. The Vice-presidents shall be elected by the Congress for a period of four years. Their term of office shall begin after the end of the congress at which they were elected. No person may serve as Vice President for more than three terms of office (whether consecutive or not). Previous terms served as a member of the Executive Committee shall not be considered in determining the term limits of the Vice Presidents.
“II. The Executive Committee members’ shall be elected by Congress for a period of four years. Their term of office shall begin after the end of the congress at which they were elected. No person may serve as Executive Committee members for more than three terms of office (whether consecutive or not).”
The Exco ’s decision on the holding of the extraordinary congress, to select April 18 or September 18, 2022 as the date of the LFA elective congress, was communicated to member clubs on July 10, 2021. However, the decision seems to have appeared unfavorable to some stakeholders.
Following reports that the Exco’s decision was intended to extend the duration of its members along with the president beyond the statutory period (four years), Mr. Raji on June 12, wrote Exco, seeking their “indulgence and acceptance to shorten my mandate as president of the LFA and convene the Elective General Assembly on April 18, 2022.”
“The submission of our proposal is in no way intended to extend the duration of the Executive Committee’s mandate nor extend my mandate beyond the statutory period. We must however note that there is a need to align the LFA elections date as proposed by FIFA in a communication dated March 4, 2021.”
“I have decided to waive my rights covered in Article 39.1 and Article 45.2 of the LFA approved Statutes in the interest of football development and await the endorsement of congress if deemed necessary,” Raji said in his communication.
The LFA is due to go to elections in 2022, in keeping with Article 39.1 which states that “Election at LFA shall be done every four years by secret ballot unless the number of candidates is equal to the number of vacancies. The election may be conducted by acclamation.”
