September 20, 2017 By Sahr Morris Jnr
Isha Johansen… Ready for another football battle
President of Sierra Leone Football Association (SLFA), Isha Johansen, has said she will not give up to intimidation in the country’s football, as she announced her intention for re-election.
Johansen, who was elected into office in a controversial election on August 2013, saw her first term of four years interrupted with an unending internal wrangling with aggrieved stakeholders, who felt cheated during the congress.
Despite this long lasting impasse, Johansen still believes she still has an unfinished business in football administration as a president of the Football Association.
In interviews with both CNN and the BBC, the SLFA boss admitted that she has suffered ‘intimidation’ and ‘discrimination’ during her first term.
She told the BBC: “I expect that after this declaration, there are going to be intensified moves to further intimidate me but these things don’t bother me anymore. I refuse to be intimidated. If you have nothing to hide, why run?”
In her chat with Alex Thomas of CNN Sport’s, the only African female football president said she is willing to take the bruises and the knocks for and on behalf of the country because her goal is to put Sierra Leone on the map for the right reasons and good governance.
Johansen’s mandate expired on August 3 but the world governing body, FIFA called for a delay in the elections until integrity checks are carried out by a task force that has already been setup and will be headed by Liberia FA president Musa Bility.