No pay for Gaweseb: Rukoro

THE Namibia Football Association’s (NFA) acting secretary general, Barry Rukoro, yesterday denied that his predecessor, Alpheus Gaweseb, received any payout after he resigned from the body on Tuesday.

Gaweseb, a former secretary general of the NFA for more than eight years, resigned on Tuesday after he was put on forced leave for two months, resulting in Rukoro acting in his position. Yesterday, Rukoro said the association does not have money to pay out Gaweseb, whose contract was supposed to end in February next year.Initially, there were reports that Gaweseb would receive a golden handshake of at least N$500 000 after the two months’ suspension.Gaweseb was told to take a break at the end of November last year after the NFA executive committee concluded at a meeting held in Gobabis that they were not happy with his management style.The NFA said Gaweseb’s services to football were not satisfactory in general and prevented the game from flourishing in many respects.Rukoro said they reached an honourable agreement with Gaweseb as he decided to resign on his own account.”We parted in good spirit.He tendered his resignation and we accepted it.There is nothing more or anything less that will be done about this issue.It is closed and we move on,” said Rukoro.He added that he personally thinks that Gaweseb can still be valuable to the game because of his financial background and might be consulted in future in that regard.Rukoro said the position of secretary general will now be advertised, but only after an NFA executive meeting, which is scheduled for early next month.He did not give a date for the meeting.Gaweseb has not made any comments regarding his forced exit from the body and did not answer his phone yesterday.Rukoro said the association needs to reorganise itself internally to create more positions within its ranks in accordance with the Fifa Long-Term Development Plan.The Fifa plan suggests that each association should beef itself up with qualified and competent personnel to effectively, plan, develop and advance the game of football on all levels.He said considering the perilous financial situation of the association, it needs to organise funding that will sustain the salaries of the people who will be recruited, including the new secretary general.”We either have to rearrange our budget to sustain the new personnel or we have to look elsewhere,” he said.Rukoro said the Brave Warriors would be provided with a team doctor ahead of their African Nations Cup qualifier against Libya later next month.He said he would meet the NFA’s medical committee today to discuss the doctor issue.Warriors coach Ben Bamfuchile’s requests for such a team doctor have not been met since he took over last year.”We will definitely have a team doctor in Libya.We want to be properly prepared for the match and a doctor will be a must in all other future matches.We don’t want the team to be medically neglected,” Rukoro said.Yesterday, Rukoro said the association does not have money to pay out Gaweseb, whose contract was supposed to end in February next year.Initially, there were reports that Gaweseb would receive a golden handshake of at least N$500 000 after the two months’ suspension.Gaweseb was told to take a break at the end of November last year after the NFA executive committee concluded at a meeting held in Gobabis that they were not happy with his management style.The NFA said Gaweseb’s services to football were not satisfactory in general and prevented the game from flourishing in many respects.Rukoro said they reached an honourable agreement with Gaweseb as he decided to resign on his own account.”We parted in good spirit.He tendered his resignation and we accepted it.There is nothing more or anything less that will be done about this issue.It is closed and we move on,” said Rukoro.He added that he personally thinks that Gaweseb can still be valuable to the game because of his financial background and might be consulted in future in that regard.Rukoro said the position of secretary general will now be advertised, but only after an NFA executive meeting, which is scheduled for early next month.He did not give a date for the meeting.Gaweseb has not made any comments regarding his forced exit from the body and did not answer his phone yesterday.Rukoro said the association needs to reorganise itself internally to create more positions within its ranks in accordance with the Fifa Long-Term Development Plan.The Fifa plan suggests that each association should beef itself up with qualified and competent personnel to effectively, plan, develop and advance the game of football on all levels.He said considering the perilous financial situation of the association, it needs to organise funding that will sustain the salaries of the people who will be recruited, including the new secretary general.”We either have to rearrange our budget to sustain the new personnel or we have to look elsewhere,” he said.Rukoro said the Brave Warriors would be provided with a team doctor ahead of their African Nations Cup qualifier against Libya later next month.He said he would meet the NFA’s medical committee today to discuss the doctor issue.Warriors coach Ben Bamfuchile’s requests for such a team doctor have not been met since he took over last year.”We will definitely have a team doctor in Libya.We want to be properly prepared for the match and a doctor will be a must in all other future matches.We don’t want the team to be medically neglected,” Rukoro said.