Barely a week after his untimely demise, the stars have aligned to vindicate our departed brother, over his decision not to accept the unacceptable looting, sexual harassment of colleagues and manipulation within CAF by its leadership.
Apparently, FIFA decided to send a 2nd wave of PWC auditors to CAF to re-clarify issues raised by the first forensic audit, by conducting an in-depth enquiry of specific issues and tracking down the audit trail of money moved from CAF accounts.
Sensing the danger that would fall upon the trio of CAF President Ahmad Ahmad, CAF Finance Committee Chairman and Morocco FA President Fouzi Lekjaa and 1st Vice-President and DRC FA President Constant Omari, they hastily did what any criminal elements would do, they asked GS Mouad Hajji to quickly vacate his position and return to Morocco, from where he would be inaccessible to PWC auditors.
On Monday this week, his successor as CAF GS, the Moroccan dentist Mouad Hajji was compelled to resign his post urgently, obviously claiming personal issues back home in Morocco.
This explains the reason he resigned with immediate effect and without notice, departing Cairo almost immediately, and being replaced by former head of Marketing, Abdelmounaïm Bah, who would for all intents and purposes be unable to offer any explanation to the financial dealings of CAF over the last one year.
Doesn’t it surprise everyone that despite the constant refrain from FIFA President Gianni Infantino that FIFA has self-reformed since the 2015 FIFA-gate scandal and indictments, that he and his organization have kept patently quiet regarding the death of Amr Fahmy, the quintessential whistle-blower in CAF?
Moroccan dentist Mouad Hajji who resigned suddenly as CAF GS this week.
The role of Amr Fahmy as the active whistleblower to what we now know to be the $24 million heist in CAF by its top leadership, would elsewhere, be the source of mass admiration and an outpouring of sympathies and condolences from FIFA and to a lesser degree, CAF.
But all we have heard this past week is the sound of silence from both institutions, allowing the death of Amr Fahmy to go uncelebrated.
In the US, Mark Felt, a former FBI agent that worked between 1942 and 1973 came out later during his retirement and revealed that during his tenure as associate director of the FBI he had been the notorious anonymous source known as “Deep Throat” who provided The Washington Post reporters Bob Woodward and Carl Bernstein with critical information about the Watergate scandal, which ultimately led to the resignation of President Richard Nixon in 1974. Though Felt’s identity as Deep Throat was suspected, including by Nixon himself, it had generally remained a secret for 30 years. Felt finally acknowledged in 2005 that he was Deep Throat after being persuaded by his daughter to reveal his identity before his death.
To understand the bravery of Amr Fahmy, he did not seek to hide his face when he made the report of the improprieties at CAF, instead he handed the dossier he had meticulously collected over time to the FIFA Ethics committee.
FIFA-gate 2015 arrests: Infantino has not learnt the lessons yet.
The FIFA Ethics committee is headed by Infantino handpicked appointees, namely the Colombian Maria Claudia Rojas and Greek Vassilios Skouris who head the Investigatory and Adjudicatory chambers respectively.
But even more astounding was that Amr made the journey to the French Capital, Paris, to give his version of events and documents which made up the dossier he gave FIFA Ethics, in the French police investigations into money-laundering, bribery and theft of CAF funds through a company by the name Tactical Steel.
By now, the whole World is now sure thay had Infantino really been serious about the anti-corruption and anti-ethical rhetoric he loves to spew, including recently in Hungary during the conference by the International Sports Press Association (AIPS), the investigations and removal of CAF President Ahmad Ahmad would today be a reality.
Instead by being partial to his African vote-basket, Infantino has shown lack of clarity of thought which has now put him in direct confrontation with the other 2 big confederations, namely UEFA and CONMEBOL.
UEFA-CONMEBOL symposium to check the excesses of Infantino.
Both of these two confederations have finally understood just how dangerous the corruption at CAF really is to the orderly conduct of football in the World. The 54 votes held by some of the poorest and most lackluster footballing Nations in the World imply that these Football Associations from Africa use these votes to sell to the highest bidder, considering that they have never had a need for constructive football development.
Initially, UEFA and CONMEBOL had been happy to keep African football suppressed with few slots at global competitions like the FIFA World Cup and Club World Cup, simply because the previous FIFA President Sepp Blatter had a good dose of common sense, not to try and rock the football order.
CAF World Cup slots compared to UEFA and CONMEBOL.
The coming to power of Gianni Infantino at FIFA with his strings attached to weird sources of money, and the ascension of the kleptomaniac Ahmad Ahmad at CAF heralded a very dangerous time for World Football.
FIFA would allow African FA Presidents to steal FIFA Forward grants and CAF subventions, in return they would vote as instructed by Infantino and any of them who found his cases before the FIFA Ethics committee, would be protected.
We all saw the case of Uganda FA President Moses Magogo and “itchy fingers” former Zambian FA President Kalusha Bwalya.
67% slots at CWC to UEFA/CONMEBOL, 14% only to CAF.
These are the things that would make Amr Fahmy’s blood boil until he was no longer able to sit by and allow CAF President Ahmad Ahmad to continue to defecate on the organization that both his father and grandfather had spent their lifetimes building from scratch, into a viable confederation.
In the eyes of Infantino however, to celebrate or recognize the life of Amr Fahmy and his bravery in exposing the festering rot inside CAF, would have seemed like a massive slap-in-the-face to the kleptomaniac Ahmad and his inner circle of thugs and religious fundamentalists at CAF.
Amr Fahmy: A most passionate football fan and Nationalist
However, the spirit of the Ultras transcends even death and the artificial gates erected by the likes of Ahmad and Infantino.
Amr Fahmy’s death ignited an outpouring of emotion and sympathy from Ultras all over the World, creating an unstoppable movement that cannot be ignored.
Who are these Ultras you may be wondering?
Ultras are a type of association of football fans renowned for their fanatical support of their football teams. The behavioral tendencies of Ultras include the use of flares, tifo choreography all designed to encourage their own team while intimidating opponents.
LONDON, ENGLAND – MARCH 14: Stade Rennais ultras fans light flares during the UEFA Europa League Round of 16 Second Leg match between Arsenal and Stade Rennais at Emirates Stadium on March 14, 2019 in London, England. (Photo by Sebastian Frej/MB Media/Getty Images)
Italy is the first country with recorded Ultras activity dating back to 1950. Despite their projection as violent groups, Ultras have largely been peaceful outfits, created for fun and mutual love of the beautiful game.
In some extreme cases, Ultras have become vehicles for radical political transformation through active citizenry, using music and satire to highlight societal ills, moral and state-sponsored malaise.
In more exciting incidents, Ultras have been the backbone of political revolutions, spear-heading regime change and creating a new governance order.
Amr Fahmy was a founder member of the Ultras Ahlawy group consisting of die-hard fans of Egyptian Giants Al Ahly, a group comprising college graduates, workers, and youth from many social levels in Egypt and who later were instrumental in the fall of former Egyptian strongman Hosni Mubarak, who coincidentally died on the same week as Amr Fahmy.
Amr Fahmy in his element as an Ultra Ahlawy.
Together with the Ultras White Knights of rival club Zamalek, they formed a human chain protecting protestors and repulsing pro-Mubarak supporters who wanted to penetrate Tahrir Square and disrupt the momentum of the Egyptian revolution.
In what would later come to be known as “the battle of the camel”, the Ultras had vicious physical confrontations with pro-Mubarak forces and supporters, essentially warding them off and securing Tahrir Square, the epicentre of the revolution.
The battle lasted from 2pm of February 2nd 2011 to 4am of the next day.
Amr Fahmy with other Al Ahly Ultras on matchday.
Later on, rumours were concocted of affiliation with Mohammed Morsy’s Muslim Brotherhood, rumors which rendered Ultras movements in Egypt banned through court orders, even though pockets of resistance continue to manifest.
One such form of protest is during any local derbies or National Team matches, where fans switch on their phone camera lights and wave them for one minute in honour of the 72 football fans who were killed during violent confrontations in Port Said in 2012.
Now you start to understand why neither CAF President Ahmad nor FIFA President Infantino could find common ground with Amr Fahmy whose approach to the administration of football was rooted deeply in passion and synergy to develop the game.
It would be impossible to find sufficient passion between Ahmad and Infantino to ignite a matchstick that can light a single flare in a stadium. For them, football has been a convenient means to an end, which, through a confluence of factors has allowed them to sit atop their chosen football organisations.
What better way to eulogize the memory and short legacy of a man like Amr Fahmy than to finish the work he started when he was alive, and clean out CAF of the ruin that infests it today and which has clearly impeded its progress and oversee the continued suffering of African youth.
Red Star Ultras in Paris eulogize Amr Fahmy with stadium banners.
Ultras movements around the world have risen to the occasion though, creating banners which eulogize and mortify the late Fahmy. From Egypt to Serbia and Germany, Ultras have embarked on activities to mourn their fallen comrade in the struggle.
Activities include a minute of silence in honor of Amr Fahmy before their matches.
More Ultras are in the process of mobilizing themselves to constantly remind football authorities of his cause, to which they have clearly turned a deaf ear as they go about the business of killing the game they claim to, ironically, love so dearly.
German Ultras during their game last weekend.
As shown on these pages previously, neither Fouzi Lekjaa nor Mouad Hajji can cheat the Moroccan Ultras of the clubs Raja Casablanca and Ittihad Tangier who made their true feelings known in the now famous video that has gone viral.
There is talk of pressure from the Ultras to force the office of the auditor in Morocco to do an in-depth analysis of how more than $500 million (yes you heard right, five hundred million US dollars) was spent by the leadership of Fouzi Lekjaa, for which there is no clear evidence.
Ultras may be passionate, but they clearly are not fools.
Here is what they chanted during a match involving Raja Casablanca.
–
In this country we live in darkness, we ask for salvation
Give us victory our lord
They spent on us drugs from Ketama, they left us like orphans
They will be accountable on judgement day
You wasted our talents, destroyed it with drugs
How do you expect it to show?
You squandered the country’s wealth, gave it to foreigners
Suppressed an entire generation
Ohhhhh, you killed our passion, Ohhh, you started the provocations…
Only a consistent barrage of pressure from Ultras will get through the thick head and skin of Infantino, to force him to take action against Ahmad Ahmad and finally honor the memory of Amr Fahmy.
Only the additional voices of the Ultras from UEFA and CONMEBOL territories will finally make Infantino acknowledge that CAF and Africa are not a urinal where he can walk in atany time he wishes to take a leak, and to leave Africa drenched in his sea-food smelling and foul liquid discharge.
Ahmad, Infantino and Lekjaa: Axis of evil in World Football which must be eradicated.
We call upon all Ultras the World over to carry banners of Amr Fahmy to the Stadiums for the remainder of the season, in solidarity with the aspirations that he stood for and to stand with his devastated family and friends.
Just as happened during the Arab spring, arise Ultras and let us send this message to the stuffed shirts at FIFA that they will never take a crap on another one of us, in the way that they attempted to do with our brother Amr Fahmy!
1 comment
The photo above is Red Star in Serbia not Paris!