Koulamallah: Africa’s lone voice, by Patrick Omorodion

Adjib Koulamallah, former deputy secretary general of the Chadian FA, has emerged as a solitary African voice criticizing FIFA President Gianni Infantino and the widespread silence among African football federations. While the Nigeria Football Federation (NFF) publicly supported Infantino's re-election, Koulamallah penned an open letter highlighting what he perceives as a lack of dissent from African football administrators.

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I speak at the very moment when my entire continent remains silent. And I want to begin by explaining why it is silent. Africa is not silent out of ignorance. Our football federation leaders see what the whole world sees. Nor is Africa silent out of indifference: nowhere is football more loved, more passionately lived, or more essential than here. Africa is silent because its silence has been budgeted for.

Koulamallah argues that Africa's silence is not due to ignorance or indifference, but rather a calculated dependency. He contends that African football federations are beholden to FIFA for development grants, projects, and infrastructure, creating a situation where criticism risks delaying these benefits and applause hopes to accelerate them. This, he stated, results in a bloc vote that is not unity but a "mortgage on our dignity, repayable in silence."

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Every federation waits for its development grant, its FIFA Forward project, its synthetic pitch, its new headquarters. There is no need to buy anyone outright; it is enough to create dependency, and dependency does the rest. Those who criticize know what they risk delaying; those who applaud know what they hope to accelerate. A quarter of FIFA’s electorate thus votes as one, election cycle after election cycle, and we are expected to believe this is unity. It is not unity. It is a mortgage on our dignity, repayable in silence.

Speaking as someone who owes nothing and expects nothing, Koulamallah, a magistrate by profession, feels compelled to voice what he believes is whispered across African football stands. He reminded Infantino of his 2016 promises to usher in a new FIFA characterized by transparency, ethics, and integrity, especially after the scandals that led to the arrests of senior officials. Koulamallah questions the current state of FIFA, pointing to "political awards invented to suit particular individuals, disciplinary sanctions erased by telephone calls, tournaments awarded without competition, an Ethics Committee reduced to silence," and the re-emergence of scrutiny from the U.S. federal justice system.

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As for me, I owe nothing and expect nothing. I served my federation for eight years, chaired a football club for seventeen, and I am a magistrate by profession: judging the powerful by their actions is my job. So I will say openly, under my own name, what is whispered in every official football stand across Africa.