Togo's Decimation By CAF

Togo deserved better from CAF and the organizers (of the orange cup of nations) to afford them space to grieve and mourn their colleagues and also allow enough time to recover from the shock of the incident. Hence CAFs decision to disqualify Togo through no fault of theirs is tantamount to the popular adage in Africa 'cry your own cry,'or as they say in Britain, 'hung out to dry.'And rightly so Togo have been left to cry their own cry and why not?

Virgilio Santos, an official with African Nations Cup local organizing committee COCAN told a newspaper "We asked that all delegations inform us when they would arrive and provide the passport number of their players. Togo was the only team not to respond and did not inform COCAN it was coming by bus,the rules are clear: no team should travel by bus. I don't know what led them to do this."

Well, Mr Santos if Cabinda is that unsafe for teams to travel by bus, was that restricted only to the Togo national team? What of the fans and numerous visitors who would throng the town? How are they supposed to travel and commute to and from matches?

What happened to the Togolese simply exposed the Angolan government's mishandling of the situation in Cabinda and the earlier they own up and clear the mess, the better for us all in Africa.

CAFs decision to disqualify Togo is to say the least appalling and shameful. According to the BBC, a Caf official said:

"The referee has been ordered to start the match and if Togo are not there, then they will be declared to have withdrawn and be disqualified." It is not yet known whether Ghana will have to go through the pretence of preparing for the match and taking to the pitch. Shortly after the proposed kick-off time for Togo v Ghana passed a CAF spokesman confirms Togo are officially disqualified.

CAFs proverbial Ostrich posture simply shows that it could do with some fresh limbs at its helm. Why were they (CAF) not proactive in managing the situation? All what CAF did was using tactical diplomacy to pressure Togo to agree to continue the tournament as scheduled irrespective of their emotional state. CAF rather should have shown leadership and postponed the entire tournament by say 2 days. That act would done the following; *Show CAF as having oversight of the tournament. *Show the seriousness of the matter. * Placate the Togolese authorities that no stone is being left unturned in dealing with the situation. * Allow the Togolese time to grieve and get over the shock. * Demonstrate that the commercial interest of the tournament is not above the human lives at stake.

I hate to say this but between them, the Coach Diver, Press Officer plus Assistant Trainer did not have enough clout even in death to cause a postponement of the tournament. If some top, top player had died, maybe the response would have been different?

Although I think it's good the tournament went ahead, a slight postponement even by a couple of days would have lifted the spirits of the Togolese and encouraged them that all are in solidarity with them. That way a return to the tournament should have remained an option to the Togolese once the mourning was over.

But Lo and Behold! for allowing themselves to be attacked by FLEC, the Togolese have been slapped with Disqualification. Most of us by now are used to bad officiating decisions during matches but this particular decision of CAF is a record breaker. Do we expect any better of their referees then?

By Sammy Akwaka

dermco2@yahoo.com http://allthessentials.blogspot.com/2010/01/togos-decimation-by-caf.html