Al-Eissi contradiction between fighting corruption politically and creating it in sport
English - Tuesday 12 September 2023 الساعة 06:56 pm
Aden, Newsyemen, Ammar Ali Ahmed:
The influential businessman Ahmed Al-Eissi appeared at the forefront of the most important events that Yemen witnessed during the past days, with two contradictory scenes between the role of the opponent of corruption, tampering and failure, and the role of creating it.
The first scene, which is still ongoing, relates to the crisis surrounding the telecommunications agreement that the government recently concluded with an Emirati company and the strong opposition to it from political parties led by the Muslim Brotherhood and influential figures led by Al-Eissi, who was the first to raise the issue and accused the government of being a deal to sell the telecommunications sector.
Al-Eissi's raising of the agreement and this accusation came in the context of television interviews in which he made a number of accusations against the government and Moeen in several files, including electricity and oil, which resonated with Parliament, whose president, Sultan Al-Barakani, formed an investigation committee of members of Parliament with what Al-Eissi said.
The committee’s report, which included many recommendations, most notably canceling the agreement, later turned into a crisis between the government and Parliament, after the objection expressed by the Prime Minister to the language and vocabulary of the report and the letter of the Speaker of Parliament that was attached to the report and addressed to him, while members of Parliament demanded a withdrawal of confidence from the government.
Al-Eissi clearly engaged in a struggle aimed at overthrowing the government and its president, Maeen Abdulmalik, which prompted him to break his habit of avoiding appearing in the media in television interviews to attack it, while trying to categorically deny that this was revenge for the reduction of his influence or the loss of some interests and privileges. Rather, the man confirms that his motive is the national interest and stopping the corruption and absurdity practiced by Maeen and his government, as he says.
This political scene, in which Al-Eissi plays the role of opposition in a certain way against corruption, failure, and tampering, was completely reflected during the past two days by a sports scene in which Al-Eissi played a specific role, and his opponents repeated what he said against the latter.
The sports community witnessed heated events and situations as a result of Al-Eissi imposing an extraordinary meeting of the General Assembly of the Football Association, which the man has headed for more than 18 years, and the strong opposition to this measure by the most prominent Yemeni clubs that boycotted the meeting.
Both the Sanaa and Aden clubs, which are considered the most prominent sports clubs in Yemen, boycotted this meeting, with statements issued by them in protest against the failed management of Al-Eissi and his refusal to replace their representatives in the General Assembly according to the regulations and his insistence on holding the meeting with the consistency of the last meeting that took place in 2014.
A measure that Al-Eissi's opponents see as stemming from his fears that the issue of changing the federation’s leadership would be raised by the General Assembly, especially after some Yemeni clubs nominated prominent sports names as their representatives, such as the famous sports star / Sharaf Mahfoud, who was nominated by Al-Tilal Club - the oldest club in the Arabian Peninsula - as its representative, amid Reports confirm that he has become a strong candidate who enjoys consensus in the sports community to succeed Al-Eissi.
In addition to Al-Eissi's fears of any talk or discussion about the financial reports for the past nine years during which the General Assembly was absent, in light of the continuing demands to reveal the fate of the federation's budget and the money it received during these years as support from the International Federation and the Asian Football Association.
With every loss and failure that Yemeni football receives, voices and demands are renewed for the necessity of changing the leadership of the Football Association, which Al-Eissi has been at the helm since 2005, without achieving any notable achievement during these years except for what the teams in the junior category have achieved.
A scene that was repeated at the beginning of this year with the defeats suffered by the first football team in the Gulf Cup tournament, prompted the prominent businessman and president of Al-Saqr Club, Shawqi Ahmed Hael, to send a letter to Al-Eissi, asking him to hold an urgent meeting of the General Assembly to correct the situation in Yemeni football.
Shawqi specified in his message a number of points for this meeting, most notably reconsidering the cadres working in the federation, presenting the federation’s financial position transparently, and activating local activity such as leagues and competitions.
This is what Al-Eissi responded to - in his own way - by holding the association’s extraordinary meeting on Sunday, in Cairo, despite the opposition and boycott by the most important clubs, and taking revenge on his opponents by confirming the decline of the Aden clubs and arresting the head of the Sana’a unit / Amin Jamaan for six months because he stood behind the strong position for Sanaa clubs, the league was imposed in the middle of this month.
