Rugby Africa dangles suspension on Cameroon.

Rugby Africa, in a letter sent to the Ministry of Sports and Physical Education early this month, urged the ministry to dissolve the current executive of FECARUGBY.

The continental governing body in a recommendation signed by its president, Herbert Mensah, said several wrongdoings were registered during the recent December 2024 election that brought in the current management team into the federation.

“Following the mission led by Mr. Nasser Bougja, Vice-President of Rugby Africa, on the occasion of the elective General Assembly of 28 December 2024, and in view of the detailed reports produced by Mr Mostafa Jelti, Head of Development and Officer in charge of monitoring Cameroon, we regret to note a persistent deterioration in the governance of the Cameroon Rugby Federation,” the continental body had said in the letter seen by The Guardian Post Sports. 

It said it noticed that following observations, it noticed that there was a disturbing non-respect of FECARUGBY statutes during the 2024 exercise, including the exclusion of 36 clubs and academies from the poll among other issues.

The structure said it observed: “persistent institutional deadlock and deep-seated internal divisions, repeated failure to comply with the statutes and regulations, particularly at the Elective General Assembly on 28 December and massive reports of electoral fraud (36 clubs and academies excluded, 27 written reports, parallel operation of two opposing structures on the national territory” and “Clear lack of effective supervision by the public authorities.” 

Strong recommendations

Rugby Africa in the letter, dished out several recommendations which it said will determine if Cameroon will be able to escape its suspension axe that is already dangling over the federation and its current team led by Patrice Monthe whose critics say, was imposed on the rugby family in the country. 

The structure urged the ministry to “pronounce the immediate dissolution of the contested FECARUGBY Executive Board” and “proceed with the appointment of a provisional management committee, in consultation with Rugby Africa”.

The African rugby governing body also urged the ministry to ensure that a fresh elective general assembly is organized at the level of the federation to elect a new bureau under the supervision of the Rugby Africa body in accordance with principles of legality, inclusion and transparency.

It said the ministry should do so by organising “under the direct supervision of Rugby Africa, an elective General Assembly in accordance with the texts in force, within a period of three to six months”.

Suspicious silence 

The letter containing the warning and recommendations from Rugby Africa is dated May 8. 

Two weeks since the letter was filed in, the Ministry of Sports and Physical Education has remained silent on the development.

The lack of communication and any visible action has left many asking questions about the ministry’s position on the instability at the federation and the next steps that the national sports governing body is going to take in an effort to address the concerns raised if at all it does.

This has left many in the rugby space in the country expressing fear that the country may be taking a path that will lead to a complete destruction of sport in the country.

This, they say, is particularly so as the continental governing has warned that the Cameroonian federation is at risk of suspension if “no corrective measures are taken by June 2025.”

New twist to an old story 

The recent recommendation from Rugby Africa opens a new chapter in what has for over a decade, been a dramatic turnaround of events at the Cameroonian national rugby governing body, FECARUGBY. 

Since 2014, the federation has been going through turbulent moments with some of them notably leading to the putting in place of normalization committee to run the structure on a tentative basis pending the resolution of the leadership conflicts like stated by Rugby Africa in its recent letter to the sports ministry. 

“Despite the many efforts at normalization made since 2014, and the measured sanctions applied by Rugby Africa, the current situation constitutes an unacceptable impasse, damaging Cameroon’s image on the international stage,” the structure had lamented in the letter.

The legal manager of Essono Rugby Cameroon Group which runs elite rugby teams in Cameroon, Hugues Medou in a recent interview with Yaounde-based radio station, Radio Tiemeni Siantou, said the recent warning and recommendation from Rugby Africa comes to confirm issues that had been ignored by the ministry despite alarms from actors in the sector.

“We note that the letter from Rugby Africa is much more than satisfactory for us because it is part of a logic of redressing of everything that happened during the electoral process,” Medou said.

Rugby actors in Cameroon who felt cheated during the electoral exercise had disgruntledly reached out to the continental body following the silence from national authorities, requesting the annulment of the election for fresh polls. 

He said he is confident that those moves led to the ongoing intervention by Rugby Africa. 

“…It should be noted that some shortcomings had been declared and the President of the Normalization Committee and the minister of sports ignored. Faced with this silence, some clubs and academies, which are however major rugby players, had therefore found it useful to seize the confederal institution to expose its shortcomings,” he told the capital city radio.

“In my opinion, the application of texts is, of course, to put things in the right direction insofar as, today, with the assistance of Rugby Africa, and if, naturally, the Ministry of External Relations agrees, we will have a much more satisfactory process that will meet the criteria to set up a federation,” the legal manager added.

The executive currently under fire at FECARUGBY was elected on December 28 last year with Barrister Patrice Monthe voted in as the federation president during the contested poll. 

But actors in the rugby sector in Cameroon described the exercise as completely ineffective. 

They notably cried foul over the lack of an independent committee to organize the polls. 

The actors also decried the exclusion of several clubs from participating in the December electoral exercise. 

A good chunk of them are stating that the teams that were sidelined were excluded in a bid to rick the polls by denying the real actors in the sector an opportunity to express their concerns on the ballot box. 

The ongoing crisis in the federation has been described as a major blow to a sport that is still battling to gain ground in Cameroon. 

Before the currently contested executive was put in place, the federation was led by a normalization committee as a result of endless wranglings with the institution.

The troubled president, Patrice Monthe stated in a statement earlier this month that those challenging the current executive’s legality are illegitimate and disgruntled individuals aiming to hinder the stability and progress of Cameroonian rugby. 

This article was first published in The Guardian Post Edition No:3454 of Saturday May 24, 2025