It is also laughable for the NFC, which has a contract with the NFA, to hear about the non-payment of premiership clubs in the newspapers.

In fact, the NFC is not at fault and always brings its part, but on numerous occasions they have been kept in the dark about the activities of the NFA, especially when it comes to finances.

What makes it worse is that the ones entrusted by the consortium to channel the funds to the legitimate recipients, in this case the premiership winners Orlando Pirates and runners-up Civics, are totally dishonest in their dealings.

The NFC confirmed and has proof that they have channelled the money through in time to be paid out to all the teams that ended up in the top six bracket of the premiership.

Apparently, these funds only reached four teams, while Pirates and Civics were only paid half of their hard-earned cash.

Now, instead of coming up with a clear-cut answer as to why the funds were not paid in full, the NPL authorities went on record and told newsmen that all the funds were paid out.

To the contrary, the two clubs claim that they never received their full share.

Firstly, this has put the consortium in a bad light as some thought that it did not channel the funds through to the NFA, which in turn pays it over to the NPL.

The NPL then makes the payments to the clubs, through cheques or electronic transfers, but that only happened partially.

It is hard to believe that football authorities can be so dishonest with the money that is not theirs.

It is shameful that the same football bosses who accuse the consortium of investing little money in football dismally failed to carry out the simple task of compensating the teams for their efforts.

What happened to the rest of the money? Did it end up paying for other eventualities and if it is the case, why not say that? But that should not happen, as it was not meant for any other purposes than paying the teams.

I tried in vain to get comment from the premiership boss Peter van Wyk on the issue, while the man in the middle of Namibian football, Barry Rukoro, also remained mum on it.

He did not respond to messages I left with his secretary.

Why is there so much secrecy around this? Of course the consortium cannot take action because they have not been briefed about the situation.

The question is, can the NFA be trusted with the teams' money in future? It will also be interesting to hear what measures will be taken by the consortium if it comes out that these funds covered other expenses.

It is time now that the consortium realises that their good standing as a body that strives to uplift the standard of Namibia football is kept in the dark about their own money.

Despite the cries that the money they pump into football is not enough, which in my opinion is true, they should act swiftly and avert a catastrophe.

The members of the consortium will be deemed incapable of channelling funds correctly by their bigger bosses and it will be embarrassing to see the money plug being pulled on the game.

One gets the feeling that NFC members do not know if the money really reaches the clubs or the intended projects in football development.

For next season, it will important for the consortium to have a relationship with whoever they deal with in football based on trust, a high level of professionalism, responsibility and some sense of transparency.

Otherwise the NFA will pull the strings and keep on embarrassing the NFC time and again.

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