Top officials of the body (before its revamping via a general election) languish in remand prison facing scary charges in court, and those of the city archrivals face legal entanglements of a similar character. That doesn’t speak too well of the health or probity of the local soccer scene, but it was taken as normal until the fifth phase stepped in with a cleanup being applied in that sphere of national life.
Still the newly elected leaders of TFF will have plenty on their plates the moment they step into office, as the situation is really low for that body, facing difficulties with organising regional soccer contests for two years in a row. It can be said that soccer has been most affected by the cash crunch engulfing public life or rather social interaction generally, as taxation has come up almost like a water hyacinth in a pool of soccer funds, chocking the life out of football, and it doesn’t appear that soccer has able spokesmen somewhere. It is a rather difficult situation lately.
Incidentally, there are senior officials in the government like Minister for Home Affairs Mwigulu Nchemba who is being cited in the media as president of Singida United FC, a team that is billed to start the premier league season from a position of strength. It is unclear how far top officials of the government have TFF at heart and not either Simba SC or Young Africans SC in the first place, and then regional preferences of their own, including obtaining honorary leadership positions as with the minister. TFF needs a more relaxed climate to operate, not more stringency.
For instance the habit that was ignited or created by the Tanzania Revenue Authority |(TRA) and is yet to be quizzed in the legislature, where the revenue body lines up its hands to receive its share in gate collections especially at the National Stadium is a nagging situation. Since this habit was formalised as the proper procedure for administering gate collections TFF has failed to organise regional competitions and other countries failed to pick up the bill, such that club and regional championships at the CECAFA level are fizzling out. Taxation is contributing, isn’t it?
There is also a dearth of civil culture where governmental organisations are also charged with controlling thought in a particular field, such that there is no discussion among sports lovers or experts how sport taxation ought to be conducted. Are gate collections at the National Stadium close or comparable to a business transaction, say at the end of the day at a petrol station, or would be much closer to a wedding ceremony, an event which depends on numerous acts of charity, and not an income generating activity as such? How do bodies living on charity pay up millions of dollars of back taxes for national team trainers who were being paid by the president?
While these are old issues, it must be admitted that the current taxation climate and its intrusion into TFF revenues had scuttled the routines of TFF and by implication, weakened soccer in the region as a whole. The government has lately been compelled to back down and remove taxes on World Bank programmes. The trouble is that donors helping soccer don’t have World Bank clout with state authorities, as soccer qualifies for similar treatment like those projects, if we all cared.
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