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Now that the Africa Cup of Nations tournament in Cameroon is over there have been questions as to what will be the fate of the National Coordination Committee, NCC, which supervised The Gambia’s participation in the tourney.

The body was set up a few months before the tourney, to among other things raise funds, take care of the logistical arrangements such as payments of players, camping allowances and bonuses, hiring of planes for the transportation of fans and players, feeding, lodging and payment of allowances to fans and officials, and so forth.

It has been about a month since the Gambian delegation returned and since then Gambians have not only been asking about the NCC’s report but also the committee’s fate. Must it be maintained, if so what role will it play? Many observers said the NCC role has almost usurped the role of the GFF by taking over all operations in Cameroon

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For answers, The Standard turned to the chairman of the NCC, sports minister   Bakary Badjie.  The minister said the NCC will be dissolved as soon as it presented a detailed report of its financial and other activities. ”At the moment, the finance committee is busy finalising its report while the logistics committee too is finalising.  There is still money tied up though in that failed transport contract with a Cameroon-based travel agency which we dragged to court for compensation and our lawyer has reported that the company is now ready to settle the matter out of court,” the minster said.

He explained that the NCC comprises of various stakeholders put together for the purpose of coordinating Afcon.

Asked what will become of the monies left with the NCC, the minister disclosed that any money left with the NCC would be kept in a Football Development Account that will be used for future football expenses. “Once the report is ready, the public and all stakeholders will be notified and then the body will be dissolved.”

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On whether the NCC was not overriding the GFF in running operations at the tournament, the minister disagreed: ”I think those are views of people outside the arrangement of the NCC. The GFF is well represented in the NCC and they were responsible for determining how players should be accommodated, how much should be paid as bonuses, etc, even though I am often at hand but that was GFF decision. And the idea of an NCC actually was studied and adapted from countries around the region, as you know it our first time. So I ampretty sure the NCC did not take up the role of the GFF. But of course people are entitled to their views.”

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