MONROVIA — Isaac T. Z. Montgomery signed and or extended invitations to stakeholders and those holding the stakes to attend football’s highest decision making body.
By Danesius Marteh, [email protected]
Montgomery served as Liberia Football Association (LFA) secretary-general and co-presided over congress, which is the supreme and legislative body of football, from December 2018 to December 2022.
So why is Montgomery, who was a co-host and disc jockey at football’s biggest party, being denied a chance to wine and dine with those he repeatedly invited?
LFA President Mustapha Raji instructed the secretariat not to invite Montgomery to the 28th ordinary congress at the LFA headquarters in Congo Town on 13 April.
Montgomery, a FIFA-badged referee-emeritus, was also not invited to an extraordinary congress to pass the budget on 25 May.
Per history and tradition, invitations are sent to former LFA presidents, vice presidents and secretary-generals to attend congress.
“For those in charge of governance at our football house, is there any reason why I have not been extended an invitation to attend tomorrow’s congress as a former GS (general secretary)?
“Last congress, I received [my invitation] through email. Is there any reason? Is there a plan to remove the table of former GS tomorrow at congress?
“This question is for those in charge of governance please,” Montgomery wrote in the Talk Football chat room on WhatsApp at 9:34PM on 12 April.
The LFA invited former President Sombo Izetta Wesley (Cllr.) and secretary-generals Idrissa Kaba and Yanqueh Borsah.
Atty. Kollie A. Dorko, who served as LFA secretary-general from December 2022 to April 2024, was invited to the extraordinary congress but didn’t attend.
Several persons, including Armah Baxter, Sensii Kiadii, Melton Yoko, Dr. Clarence Yaskey and former Liberia internationals Washington Blay and Anthony Laffor, were invited as observers.
So why is the LFA, under Raji, denying Montgomery from attending congress?
“As president of the [Liberia] Football Association, I have the right to extend invitation to those who participate in congress as observers. I exercise my rights.
“If you can point out any rules within the LFA that tells you the LFA is under obligation to invite everyone to participate, I hope you can do so,” said Raji at a media engagement at the LFA headquarters on 2 July.
Prior to the congresses, Raji, who sued Montgomery for libel at the Civil Law Court in December 2023, sent an emissary to call Montgomery for a truce during the closing ceremony of the Orange first division at the Samuel Kanyon Doe (SKD) sports complex practice pitch on 7 April.
Montgomery told former LFA Vice President Wilmot Smith, who disclosed it in the TalkFootball chat room on 9 April.
He informed Vice President Sekou Konneh (Prof.), who was in India, about his exclusion by Raji.
Intolerant and belligerent Raji
It is now evidently cleared that Montgomery will not attend congress under a Raji presidency until April 2026 when a new president is elected by stakeholders.
Montgomery will remain in the cooler if Raji is reelected for an unprecedented third term.
Truth be told, Raji is football’s newest dictator, who is so intolerant and belligerent to dissent, and has found ways and means to eliminate those, who objectively disagree with him.
Raji unsuccessfully tried to have FIFA banned then Vice Presidents Sekou Konneh and Wilmot Smith over an intervention to have then LFA protocol officer James Payne and chauffeur Teblee Merriam, who were dismissed by Montgomery in October 2021, reinstated.
Like a typical footballer, Raji denied his involvement in the grand scheme but took no action against Montgomery, who wrote the letter to FIFA on Raji’s instruction.
Former LFA treasurer Jallah Corvah (Atty.) has been excluded from serving as match commissioner on Raji’s orders to LFA match commissioner-general Sombo Izetta Wesley (Cllr.) on account of Jallah’s information and education on funds received by the LFA under the FIFA Forward Programs and his constructive engagements of happenings at the LFA.
Former LFA employee Yudu Miller is serving an indefinite ban imposed by Raji on grounds that he led sheriffs to halt the LFA congress at the SKD in November 2021.
Chris Geeplay Weah and Emmett Stages Glassco, who legally sought to prevent the congress, were untouched with Raji claiming that they are stakeholders but Miller isn’t.
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