Sports ministry names normalisation committee at FECARUGBY.

The sports boss named the five-man committee in a decision signed on Thursday, May 11. 

According to the minister, the team will run the affairs of the federation from May 2023 till the end of the current 33^rd Olympiad.

 “In accordance with Rugby Africa, the organ in charge of rugby in Africa, this present decision creates a normalization committee at the Cameroon Rugby Federation, FECARUGBY,” the Sports boss wrote in part. 

The team will “run the affairs of the federation, review texts governing the federation and put in place a legal executive bureau at FECARUGBY before the end of the 33^rd Olympiad in 2024. The elections will be held in strict respect of etiquette, transparency, inclusion and impartiality,” he continued 

The normalisation committee is led by Cameroonian academic, Onana Etoudi Felix. 

Onana Etoudi, according to a profile released by the Minister of Sports, is a Magistrate and a PhD holder in law. 

The committee’s vice president is Njoh Mbongue Louisan. Njoh is the president of the Littoral regional league for FECARUGBY. He is also former president of the association of representatives of presidents of regional leagues. 

Trained physical education teacher, Akamba Peter is the committee’s rapporteur. Akamba is a former rugby player and head coach of the Rugby 7 national team in Cameroon. 

According to the Ministry of Sports, Akamba is holder of a Master’s degree in Sports law obtained from the University of Yaounde II. 

The two members concluding the committee are Mbagni Peter and Nde Justin Jean.

Mbagni Peter runs Addax Petroleum men and women’s rugby teams. 

The teams are reigning champions of the first-division rugby championship. 

Meanwhile, Nde Justin Jean is a certified physical education teacher. He is equally a former rugby player and is currently serving as a national coach under the Cameroon Rugby Federation.

Firefighter role  

The decision by the Minister of Sports and Physical Education to put in place a normalisation committee at FECARUGBY, is coming to calm what has been a tense atmosphere at the Cameroon Rugby Federation, FECARUGBY. 

The federation has been in trouble since November last year when a prime ministerial decree ordered sports federations and associations to hold elections renewing their executive bureaus, to ensure they meet up with the 33^rd Olympiad to expire in 2024. 

Two factions have battled for the leadership of the federation since then; one led by the structure’s interim president Emmanuel Marc Ossono and another championed by a former executive at the federation, Serge Enguene. 

Enguene and team accused the committee put in place to organise the elections, of being partial and practicing what they termed as nepotism, aimed at ensuring victory for the interim president. 

The infighting led to multiple postponements of the planned elections. The December 10, 2022 date, set aside to hold the first extraordinary general assembly in preparations for the election was later cancelled.

The general assembly later held but ended in chaos.

This led to the Minister of Sports demanding that the exercise be redone in respect of laws put in place at the federation in 2018 involving the members of the 2013 general assembly 

Another gathering was held in February this year to prepare for the elections but also ended in a stalemate. 

Most of the board members at the federation raised alarms of foul play in the process demanding an intervention from competent state institutions.

Thierry Essono, head of the judicial committee charged with the election, had however gone ahead to state that the process was fully transparent and done in respect of the laws in place at the federation. 

The infighting at the federation and the delay in the holding of fresh election therefore pushed the Sports ministry to put in place a normalisation committee.

The Onana Etoundi Felix-led team have as first mission, ensuring the participation of Cameroon at the 2023 African women’s Rugby championship billed for Madagascar as from May 18.