Karia: Some people are trying to tarnish TFF's good name

Tanzania Football Federation (TFF) president Wallace Karia has revealed some people have tried to tarnish their good name despite their efforts to do a good job.

Karia, who doubles as the Council of East and Central Africa Football Association (Cecafa) boss, believes his regime has worked hard to embrace transparency in the work they do but some people are trying to tarnish their good image.

“Since we came to power, we have been thriving to work transparently and in such doing, we managed to win trust from Fifa, who prior to our arrival, had withdrawn from assisting the federation due to irregularities which emerged then,” Karia is quoted as saying by Daily News.

“We had to work hard to win back Fifa’s confidence in us which made them resume providing money for various football developmental activities in the country.”

Karia also confirmed they have used the grant money received from Fifa for the purpose it is meant for, insisting they have strict guidelines which he says allow prevents the misuse of money.

“The current amount we have received has had its guidelines, but due to the Covid-19 pandemic we have used some of it to pay allowances of referees who were not paid for a long time,” Karia continued.

Karia’s sentiments come after he welcomed the move by the Prevention and Combating of Corruption Bureau (PCCB) to investigate the alleged misuse of funds meant for the 2019 U17 preparations.

Through their director John Mbungo, the PCCB confirmed on Saturday they had launched investigations on how the 1bn/, donated by President John Pombe Magufuli as well as other funds from stakeholders towards the 2019 U17 Africa Cup of Nations preparations, were spent.

Tanzania were the hosts of the tournament and according to Mbungo, they have already collected enough evidence about the misuse of the funds, and as such the concerned individuals will be summoned for further questioning.

“For now, we should let PCCB accomplish their responsibilities, and thereafter we can have something to say. I am one of the persons who delighted to see the issue being investigated such that soon, we will get their final results,” Karia is quoted saying.

“If anyone in the federation including myself is found guilty, we will be ready for anything.”

Karia maintained as a far as he was concerned, the TFF did their part to stage a top tournament and only a few individuals felt money had been misused and hence moved to report the matter to the investigating team.