BG reporter

FOOTBALL
The late entry of Segolame Ramothwa into the open tussle for the coveted position of vice president (Administration) at tomorrow’s biennial General Assembly of the Botswana Football Association (BFA) is mired in controversy, and at the worst, he could see his name being scrapped off the list of electable candidates.
BFA regions from across the country converge at Boipuso Hall on Saturday to vote for candidates to fill the four vacant positions of VP (Admin), VP (Finance, Marketing and Research) and two additional members. For the former, delegates have the option of voting for Boyce Sebetlela, Booker Bannister or Ramothwa. BG Sports has confirmed that the position of vice president (FMR) also has three nominees while seven candidates are lining up for the two additional member slots.
However, this publication can further reveal that of the 13 people who have shown interest in standing, a good number of them have failed to meet the preliminary requisites for them to stand, and Ramothwa is strangely one of them. BFA’s prevailing constitution, which was essentially drafted by Ramothwa himself, demands that for one to stand for elections, they ought to be nominated by one member of the association, a region, who should then be supported by four other regions. The nominees will then submit nomination forms showing their intent of running for elections as well as the members who nominated them.
It, however, turns out that five of the seven candidates for the additional member slots have not managed to raise support from the required four, either having their nominations supported by only two or three regions. For the top post VP (Admin), only Ramothwa failed to reach the magic number, potentially leaving the door open for a two-dog race between Sebetela and Bannister. In essence, Ramothwa’s candidature is now purely at the mercy of the general assembly which might choose to follow the constitutional requirement to the letter. Should a waiver be agreed upon to ignore that constitutional requirement, Ramothwa and others will survive and possibly go on to win.
Some candidates who are aware of the unconstitutional nominations have already been asking questions wondering why the BFA seems set not to allow them to stand. But others say the general assembly has the power to nominate them afresh from the floor on the day of the meeting. BFA’s public relations officer, Phakamile Kraai confirmed hearing of such a scenario but said he was not in a position to shed light on the issue as he was still in a meeting.
However, acting CEO of the BFA, Susan Monametsi, confirmed that indeed some candidates, including one for VP (Admin) had not met all the requirements. She also said the only way they could go on to be allowed to stand is if the general assembly decides so on Saturday. “However, if the assembly fails to reach a consensus that allows them to stand, they will not contest the elections,” she said. Monametsi disclosed that upon realising the anomaly, her office alerted all the defaulting nominees but no action could be taken by all of them as they had submitted their candidature forms on deadline day.
The VP (Admin) position fell vacant early last year when Ramothwa resigned for unspecified reasons. The position was taken over by Vincent Seretse, who resigned from it after being made a Specially Elected MP. Olsen Mantle has since been acting on the position to date. All along, Sebetlela and Bannister have been the frontrunners in the race, with Ramothwa openly entering the race at a later stage. At the time of going to press, BG Sport could not raise comments from the concerned candidates.