African football hit by fresh allegations over general secretary’s Caf conduct

The general secretary of the Confederation of African Football (Caf), Veron Mosengo-Omba, ignored a recommendation that Pierre-Alain Mounguengui was ineligible for election to its powerful executive committee because he had been accused of covering up widespread sexual abuse in Gabonese football, it can be revealed.

Mounguengui, the president of the Gabonese football federation (Fegafoot), has been accused of failing to act on reports of sexual abuse and rape of young footballers in a series of stories that were first published by the Guardian in 2021. He has denied the allegations and there is no suggestion Mounguengui has been accused of sexual abuse himself. Although he has not yet been formally charged, Mounguengui spent six months in custody awaiting a decision from the authorities in Gabon and was visited by the Caf president, Patrice Motsepe, with a final ruling on his case still pending almost four years on.

As part of Caf’s election process to its exco, which comprises 24 members including Motsepe and Mosengo-Omba and makes key decisions on African football including the scheduling of the Africa Cup of Nations, all candidates are required to undergo an eligibility test that is conducted by its governance committee.

However, sources have claimed that all but one of the committee’s members felt that Mounguengui should be considered ineligible for election in 2023 – a recommendation that was subsequently dismissed by Mosengo-Omba. It has also been alleged by several sources within the governance committee that Mosengo-Omba bypassed the request for an independent legal opinion on his eligibility and instead insisted they consult Mounguengui’s personal lawyer. It has been claimed this represented an obvious conflict of interests.

“When it happened the former chairman of the governance committee was not happy,” added one source. “He was shouting and saying: ‘I requested the opinion of an independent lawyer. This is not correct and we cannot work in these conditions.’ It was a mess …”

It has been suggested by another senior source within Caf that Mosengo-Omba needed Mounguengui’s support to solidify his position in central Africa, where there have been recent disputes with presidents of the federations of the Republic of the Congo, Cameroon and Central African Republic. “Mounguengui always supports Veron on the exco,” they told the Guardian.

Caf has not responded to a request for comment on the allegations against Mosengo-Omba, who is also facing accusations of running the organisation as his “proprietorship” and creating a toxic culture of fear where employees are fired for speaking out against him that were made in the Guardian in October. It did not provide any further clarity on whether Mosengo-Omba, who is close to the Fifa president, Gianni Infantino, and understood to have been an influential figure behind the decision to hold Afcons in four-year cycles from 2028, is planning to step down from his post after reaching Caf’s statutory retirement age of 66.

Mounguengui was appointed as a vice-president of Caf in April despite the ongoing case in Gabon which saw the arrest of another coach employed by Fegafoot. In August, Paul Lambert Nguema Ebang Toung, better known as “Lumière”, was charged with paedophilia, public indecency and obstruction of justice and is awaiting trial having been provisionally suspended by Fegafoot. He was also investigated by Fifa when it looked into allegations against the former Gabon youth-team coach Patrick Assoumou Eyi, known as “Capello”, but was cleared at the time.

Eyi was banned for life by Fifa in March after he admitted charges of raping, grooming and exploiting young players. World football’s governing body is believed to be continuing to investigate whether Mounguengui did not report alleged sexual abuse by Eyi and a number of other coaches to Gabon’s authorities.

The Guardian reported in January 2024 that an independent investigator recommended he should be immediately suspended by Fifa, although it has still yet to be acted upon. Mounguengui, who has been in Morocco as Gabon have lost their opening two matches at this year’s Afcon to exit the competition, could face up to three years in prison if found guilty.