The vice-president of the Guinean Basketball Federation and some of its members were in front of the press this Tuesday, May 17, 2022, to denounce the management of their president Sakoba Keita. During this press briefing, they accused the president of the FGB of selling visas in an “illegal” way.
It is a crisis that has persisted since 2018. However, new revelations have been made today. For Babila Keita, evidence exists today, showing that Mr. Sakoba sold visas intended for the federation to individuals.
“Today we got our hands on Orange Guinea’s contract with the Guinean Basketball Federation. There are other contracts (…) Mr. Sow spoke to you about the sale of visas. Make other people travel instead of basketball executives. We have notarial deeds, certificates which commit these people to pay the requested amounts (4 to 6 thousand euros per person) if they return to Europe and manage to flee. We can give you the number of people,” accused Babila Amara Keita.
In addition, Ousmane Sylla, president of the organization and competitions commission, explained this by the fact that Sakoba Keita would have refused to allow him to go for training in Canada, entirely financed by Olympic solidarity.
“Sakoba prevented me from getting my level IV, in Canada. The ministry had validated the documents, the Guinean national Olympic and sports committee, the international basketball federation, the confederation, the institution that finances training, Olympic solidarity. Do you know how much the scholarship cost? 52 thousand dollars. After this training, I was going to be an expert in the sub-region. I could leave Guinea to go teach in Ivory Coast and come back. He refused. Only my federation refused. Why ? Because, I’m not with him. We were just waiting for his signature…” he explained.
