VOTE OF NO CONFIDENCE

ON

THE PRESIDENT OF ANOCA,

MR MUSTAPHA BERRAF

THE SECRETARY GENERAL OF

ANOCA,
MR AHMED ABOU ELGASIM
HASHIM

THE TREASURER OF ANOCA

MR HABU AHMED GUMEL

We, the undersigned Presidents and Secretaries General of National Olympic

Committees of Africa, have come up with this letter to express our
dissatisfaction with the afore-mentioned three Officials who are directly
involved with the day-to-day running of our Organisation, the Association of
National Olympic Committees of Africa.

This letter is an expression of our VOTE OF NO CONFIDENCE in their

ability to run our Institution which is disintegrating and falling apart before
our very eyes and is fast becoming the laughing stock of the world of Sport
and the Olympic Movement. We understand the severity of this decision
and can assure everyone that we did not arrive at it hastily, it was carefully
thought out.

ANOCA is expected to be an organization where decisions are taken in a

collaborative manner with the best interest of our athletes and National
Olympic Committees in mind. Our Organisation just recently experienced
severe shakings, which we hoped would be eye-opening for everyone.

The above-mentioned Team was entrusted with putting things back on track
and helping ANOCA catch up on lost times as we focus on preparing for the
Tokyo 2020 Olympic Games. However, it is sad to note that rather than
meet the expectations of the NOCs, this leadership has brought them more
troubles and created deeper concerns for the future of the organization with
great consequences on the athletes and the youth of our continent.

Summarily, this team has betrayed the trust of the NOCs through their lack
of respect for the very constitution which governs the Organisation, while it
is obvious that they have abandoned the core Missions of our organization as
listed out in the Constitution, and have instead directed their attention to
consistently carrying out actions which bring the organization into disrepute.

This VOTE OF NO CONFIDENCE is in response to the practices and

actions of this Team, some of which are listed below:

1. A LAWSUIT FILED IN ABUJA, NIGERIA AGAINST THE

FORMER PRESIDENT OF ANOCA, GENERAL LASSANA
PALENFO

After serving ANOCA for 12 years as President, moving the

organization from nothing to a place of seeming recognition, General
Lassana Palenfo, who introduced and initiated all and the only
 projects and programmes in existence in ANOCA today, was not only
humiliated out of office, from which he honourably stepped down on
17 July 2018 in Algiers, Algeria. He was never recognized in anyway
as it should have normally been expected for someone who did so
much for the organization, by appointing him as Honorary President
of ANOCA.

General Lassana Palenfo’s name was never mentioned in the speech

of Mr. Mustapha Berraf at the opening of the 1 st African Beach
Games in Cape Verde even though it was his brainchild; no tribute
was paid to him whatsoever. Not only did this Team fail to do the
minimum they could to honour a man who helped the organization to
stand to a certain extent, they instead lodged a lawsuit against him in
Abuja for fraud and falsification of employment documents for his
Chief of Staff Mr. Mohamed Azzoug.

Not only was the lawsuit initiated, but Mr. Palenfo was never
informed and a date has been fixed for hearing which would have
been done in his absence and judgment passed against him.

We do not believe that the IOC which is expected to be our model,

would under any circumstance initiate such an action against any of
their past presidents. This highly disrespectful decision by the afore-
mentioned persons to initiate a lawsuit against President Palenfo was
never discussed or taken by the Executive Committee neither were
NOCs aware. This is an attempt to not only smear the personality of
a man who has quietly left the scene and is trying to get some rest,
but also to humiliate him further in the eyes of the world.

2. LACK OF FINANCIAL TRANSPARENCY

National Olympic Committees continue to receive tons of very

disturbing information concerning the President of ANOCA, MR
MUSTAPHA BERRAF from Algeria touching on various charges
that affect our collective credibility and image. The allegations also
concern huge sums of money from ANOCA that were allegedly not
utilized for the intended purpose during the African Games. We
observe some of the tendencies highlighted in the documents released
in the way ANOCA is currently being managed.
 We are aware that funds were paid to the President of NOC Algeria
also ANOCA President, Mr. Mustapha BERRAF for the hosting of
the 2018 General Assembly on the sidelines of the 3rd African Youth
Games. The said funds have never been accounted for until date. No
financial report has been submitted to ANOCA, while the balance of
over $150,000 is still in the possession of the NOC President over
one year later. Reminders from the Treasurer General have fallen on
deaf ears as the President has refused to return the funds. The
Treasurer General failed to report this to the General Assembly,
which held in Cape Verde in June 2019 for a decision to be taken.

3. PAYMENT TO ANOCA PRESIDENT AND HIS PROTOCOL

OFFICER

The President of ANOCA Mr. Berraf hired a Protocol Officer who

accompanies him on official assignments. This officer has no official
employment letter from ANOCA. Missions and other allowances for
the Protocol Officer of the President of ANOCA are paid into the
account of the President of ANOCA. The Treasurer General is
expected to understand that this is far from being good governance.
To make matters worse, the Protocol Officer claims he has not been
receiving the said funds from the President.

4. PRESIDENT'S TRAVELS

It is sad to recall that President Lassana Palenfo was removed from

office amongst other things because he was accused of spending
ANOCA funds on travels. We notice that very little has changed with
the current president as ANOCA funds continue to be spent on trips
which most times are unnecessary.

5. ANOCA ADMINISTRATION

It was embarrassing to receive a letter and court documents from the

attorney of Ms. Elisabeth Emana, which made it very clear to us NOCs
that ANOCA does not have an administration and our Secretary
General has not lived up of the reason why he was elected.

We clearly noted that there are no systems or processes in the running

of our administration; there are no staff rules and regulations, and no
 human resource management system. If such were in place, the
embarrassing decision of terminating an employee’s appointment
without taking into account what documents are available, would never
arise.

From information and documents received, it is clear that the NOCs

were lied to, the decision cannot be explained, while the approach was
illegal, unprofessional and unconstitutional. This situation embarrasses
the organization and we wonder if we have a Secretary General who
understands administration. ANOCA is, because of these practices,
now reputed as an organisation that treats its employees like animals,
we are not a rogue organization!

Moreover, we note that employees in ANOCA are no longer recruited

based on competence and merit but based on their amorous ties with
members of the afore-mentioned Team. The Treasurer General for
instance recruited his mistress to work in the Secretariat, while they lied
to the Executive Board that she was an employee seconded from the
Nigerian Ministry of Sports.

We are further aware that ANOCA pays over $40,000 to someone who
does the accounting job for which ANOCA already pays an accountant.
This double payment is not expected to happen in a normal well-
managed administration.

6. ARBITRARY/UNCONSTITUTIONAL DECISIONS AND ABUSE

OF POWERS

We are aware that the President of ANOCA now has the tendency of
gathering Executive board members in the restaurant and sometimes at
night to take or impose on them important decisions that turn out to go
against the constitution. These decisions, it should be stressed,
implicate all NOCs given that Executive Board members are only
representatives of the NOCs.

Here are few examples for the record:

- The President of ANOCA attempted to force Board Members to

approve a marketing contract with Lagardère Sports in June
2019 in Cape Verde, at night, in a restaurant, a contract
 involving $1million of ANOCA funds

- Appointment of the 4th Vice President

NOCs received a communication on the appointment of the 4th Vice

President of ANOCA. However we do not recall when the General
Assembly mandated the President of ANOCA to make this decision. It
was agreed that this issue and the selection of the host country for the
next General Assembly would be addressed at the Extraordinary
Assembly in Rabat or now Doha. This decision is unconstitutional and
ultra vires.

7. MANAGEMENT AND ORGANISATION OF THE AFRICAN

GAMES

The African Union handed over the marketing of the African Games
2018 to ANOCA as this was the main argument going into negotiations
with the AU in the first place. We noted that there was no marketing
and we did not see the logo of any sponsors at the Games in Rabat,
Morocco. The President of ANOCA and his team failed to live up to
expectations and the African Union may drop the agreement with
ANOCA going forward.

8. COMPROMISE OF THE ANOCA REVIEW AND REFORM

COMMITTEE
We note that the review and reform committee set up in Prague was a
mirage, as nothing has changed in ANOCA two years later. The
ANOCA administration has totally collapsed. The president of
ANOCA now invites the Chair of the Committee to all meetings of the
Executive Board even when he has no role to play with privileges
accorded him, thereby preventing him from having an objective and
unbiased position on issues.

9. ON-GOING COURT CASES

AFRICA VILLAGE LONDON 2012

We are aware that this team has continued to pay a lawyer in Paris for
 the London Africa Village case. It would be recalled that this was one
of the sharpest criticisms against President Palenfo.

MOHAMED AZZOUG
We are aware of a court case lodged in Switzerland against ANOCA
filed by President Palenfo's chief of staff who was dismissed without
the Secretary General, the President and the Treasurer General doing
their homework and realising that he had a fixed term employment
contract signed until 2020. As of today tens of thousands of dollars
have already been paid to a lawyer in Switzerland to handle the case
which we are not sure ANOCA will win. NOCs are also not aware that
because of this case, the ANOCA account in Switzerland was blocked,
a situation which greatly embarrassed the IOC. Even though the IOC
advised the ANOCA President to resolve the matter amicably, he would
rather keep wasting ANOCA funds to pay a lawyer on a case ANOCA
may lose eventually. To make matters worse, the three officials decided
to hire another lawyer in Abuja to lodge a lawsuit on the same case,
more money spent!

ELISABETH EMANA
We are aware that ANOCA has once again hired a lawyer to handle the
lawsuit filed by Ms. Elisabeth Emana, even though we know that we
have no case. It is again our NOCs funds that this team intends to
utilize to pay legal fees and other damages.

Funds from Olympic Solidarity are expected to be used to help NOCs

especially those who need support the most. Those funds are not supposed to
be wasted on court cases which can be avoided if the right people are
running our administration and the right leadership is in place in ANOCA.
We note that the current leadership is not properly representing us Africans.

We note that this team, if allowed to continue, will drown the organization in
debts that it may not be able to come out from in additional to causing
irreparable damage to the image of ANOCA and putting its credibility into
jeopardy.

The General Assembly still remains the supreme organ of ANOCA and
expects its elected officials to act responsibly and be accountable.
For the above reasons and in order to rescue our organisation from the hands
of persons who cannot be trusted to run it effectively, we the undersigned are
voting NO CONFIDENCE in THE PRESIDENT OF ANOCA, MR
MUSTAPHA BERRAF, THE SECRETARY GENERAL OF ANOCA, MR
AHMED ABOU ELGASIM HASHIM, and THE TREASURER OF
ANOCA, MR HABU AHMED GUMEL and demand that they
immediately step down from their positions for the good of our Organisation
and its credibility, to enable our NOCs to focus on preparing their athletes
for the Tokyo Olympic Games.

LIST OF SIGNATORIES

SN NATIONAL OLYMPIC COMMITTEE SIGNATURE

1. ALGERIA
2 ANGOLA
3 BENIN
4 BOTSWANA
5 BURKINA FASO
6 BURUNDI
7 CAMEROON
8 CAPE VERDE
9 CENTRAL AFRICAN REPUBLIC
10 CHAD
11 COMOROS
12 COTE D’IVOIRE
13 DEMOCRATIC REPUBLIC OF CONGO
14 DJIBOUTI
15 EGYPT
16 ETHIOPIA
17 GABON
18 GAMBIA
19 GHANA
20 GUINEA
21 GUINEA BISSAU
22 KENYA
23 LESOTHO
24 LIBERIA
25 LYBIA
26 MADAGASCAR
27 MALAWI
28 MALI
29 MAURITANIA
30 MAURITIUS
31 MOROCCO
32 MOZAMBIQUE
33 NAMIBIA
34 NIGER
35 NIGERIA
36 CONGO
37 RWANDA
38 SAO TOME AND PRINCIPE
39 EQUATORIAL GUINEA
40 SENEGAL
41 SEYCHELLES
42 ERITREA
43 SIERRA LEONE
44 SOMALIA
45 SOUTH AFRICA
46 SUDAN
47 SOUTH SUDAN
48 ESWATINI
49 TANZANIA
50 TOGO
51 TUNISIA
52 UGANDA
53 ZAMBIA
54 ZIMBABWE