Namibia Football Association (NFA) acting secretary general Franco Cosmos, who was a member of the Fifa-appointed Normalisation Committee, will remain as interim head of the NFA’s administrative affairs until end of December this year, the association’s executive committee resolved over the weekend.

Cosmos was vice chairperson of the Normalisation Committee that oversaw the NFA elections in February, which paved the way for the association’s new leadership headed by Ranga Haikali as president.
Upon taking over as president, Haikali retained Cosmos as acting secretary general of the local football federation in the continued absence of a substantive general secretary. 

During Saturday’s executive committee meeting, held at a local guesthouse in Windhoek, the NFA’s executive committee members again endorsed the decision to keep Cosmos on as acting secretary general until end of December 2020. The meeting also resolved that while Cosmos will remain in that position temporarily until December, the position will be advertised and hopefully by early next year, a substantive secretary general for the NFA would have been appointed.

Speaking to New Era Sport yesterday, Haikali provided an update of the executive committee’s first meeting and said the meeting covered a ranger of important issues – and among them was the vacant position of secretary general.

“We thoroughly discussed the issue (secretary general position) and for the sake of stability, continuity and progress, it was necessary to keep Cosmos on until end of December 2020. If you look at where we are coming from as an association and you also look at the ongoing politics in football and progress we are seeing at the NFA, it tells you why it is important for us to keep on Cosmos because his experience and calibre has been helpful to the NFA. If you have to bring in someone new right now, it is going to be very difficult for him or her to cope with the pressure and ongoing politics. So, for the sake of continuity and stability, we need Cosmos to stay on at this moment. But as I said, the secretary general position will be advertised through an independent consultant and by early next year, we would have appointed a fulltime secretary general,” explained Haikali.

Saturday’s gathering, Haikali said, also resolved that the finance manager and technical director positions will equally be advertised, and all Namibians will be accorded an opportunity to apply. All positions will be advertised through an independent consultant to avoid nepotism.
The vacant head coach position of the Brave Warriors was also discussed and it was decided that acting head coach Bobby Samaria and his deputy Woody Jacobs should stay on until March next year. Haikali explained that the decision to retain both coaches was aimed at maintaining the continuity and stability of the senior national team, which qualified for the African Nations Championship (Chan) tournament that was initially slated for Cameroon in April but had to be postponed due to Covid-19.

Also, during the executive committee gathering, an emergency committee for the NFA was established and it will be dealing with the association’s day-to-day urgent matters. It will be headed by Haikali and his vice president Izack Fredericks along with other additional members.
– ohembapu@nepc.com.na