{UAH} Why Blatter, Museveni are brothers under the skin - Comment - www.theeastafrican.co.ke
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Why Blatter, Museveni are brothers under the skin - Comment
At the end of May, the New York Times reported that, during World Cup 2010 in South Africa, according to a confidential report by FIFA, referee Ibrahim Chaibou "ate" money to rig a match.
Chaibou, went the report, was paid by a "notorious match-rigging" syndicate based in Singapore. He was so flush with dollars, when he banked $100,000 of it in a small South African branch, a bank employee was so blown away he gave Chaibou a gift of commemorative coins bearing the likeness of Nelson Mandela.
East Africans will not miss the irony that a man called Chaibou drank some "chai" to fix a match, but his story says something more intriguing about Africa — especially its referees and officials — and the World Cup.
None of the five African teams in the ongoing World Cup in Brazil will get to the finals, to be realistic. However, the brilliant individual African players are likely to get offers worth hundreds of thousands of dollars to play for a top European or Chinese club.
For the African referees, though, nothing will change. They will go back home to referee in poorly funded domestic leagues, and get a pittance for their work — if they get paid at all.
Refereeing a World Cup match is therefore a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity for them. It is the biggest pay season of their lives. Not only do they have to make enough money from it to complete the small house they are building, but the few games they will officiate must also pay their pension.
Then along comes a Singaporean match-fixer bearing a $100,000 bribe. Go figure.
I guess the same thing happens with our football federation officials. There are allegations that several of them lined their pockets to vote for the World Cup to be held in Russia in 2018 and Qatar in 2022.
One of those typical Sepp Blatter-engineered sham Fifa investigations into the allegations is under way.
Blatter is much like an African autocrat and president for life. Now 78, he said last week he will seek another term in elections next year, although in 2011 he said it would be his last shot at the Fifa presidency. That argument helped him defeat proposals for term limits.
Blatter, who has been in the job since 1998, must surely be a student of presidents like Uganda's worthy Yoweri Museveni. Western federations hate Blatter, but with the vote of the African and Asian federations, he will probably win again.
But, like all good politicians, he must give his constituents something for their vote. Probably turning a blind eye to vote-selling for World Cup hosting rights is one of his rewards to "his people."
So there you have it. Most African referees come from countries where their own corrupt leaders set a bad example. They are hired to referee matches by an organisation tainted by corruption and led by a strongman who runs it pretty much like their Big Men back home. What should we expect?
Besides, how can a man go to referee at the World Cup watched by billions of people in the world, and then go back home empty-handed? His children will not eat his whistle, and his wife — or better, mistress — will not wear his yellow shirt and black referee's shorts.
He was not a democrat, Nasser, but he was a good African. When Nkrumah was overthrown, Nasser gave him not just a home, but a wife too, thus allowing Nkrumah to die as he lived — a true panAfricanist.
Charles Onyango-Obbo is is the editor of Mail & Guardian Africa (mgafrica.com).
Twitter:cobbo3
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