FECOFA hit by fraud claims and accusations of FIFA interference in election process

Rarely has an election at an African federation caused such a stir. Of the nine candidates who initially showed interest in the FECOFA presidency, only Véron Mosengo-Omba's bid has ultimately been approved by the electoral commission of the Congolese Football Association.

Between the invalidation of several applications and the sudden withdrawal, for “personal reasons”, of the two other lists approved at first instance (Bosco Mwehu and Jean-Didier Massamba), the path has been completely cleared for Gianni Infantino's friend Mosengo-Omba to be elected on 20 May. The problem is that this plebiscite, initiated by FIFA and backed by the Congolese presidency, appears tainted by multiple frauds and even a forged document that enabled the candidacy of the former CAF secretary general to be validated.

The General Assembly of 11 January 2025 never ratified the change to the statutes

On 11 January 2025, the Normalisation Committee running FECOFA convened an Extraordinary General Assembly to change certain statutes, notably Article 37 on eligibility criteria. The idea was to push through an amendment allowing anyone who had simply held a position in football (so not necessarily a Congolese) to stand for election. It was a text that seemed tailor-made for Véron Mosengo-Omba, who had never held a role in Congolese football.

Indeed, at the end of an interminable three-and-a-half-year Normalisation Committee that curiously came to a close just as he left the CAF on reaching the age limit, he announced his candidacy, backed at the highest level by Gianni Infantino and since then by the Congolese government, notably Sports Minister Didier Budimbu, who summoned the various league presidents to his private office on Avenue de la Justice to extol the merits of his new “friend”.

The problem is that the validity of Véron Mosengo-Omba's file rests on the change to the statutes. Yet it never officially took place, since the General Assembly members rejected the proposals, arguing that “an electoral process was under way, no statutory provision should be revised”.

These words, written by three regional league officials (Eidé Vakatsuraki Vayikerye, president of the North Kivu provincial league, Georges Magambo Budundwa, president of the South Kivu provincial league, and Mulowe Rubi Toto, first vice-president of the Orientale province league) in official correspondence dated 28 April, contradicted the version put forward by FECOFA, explaining that “the statutes have never been amended since their adoption in 2022”.

Forged minutes sent by FIFA

On 26 April, five days after the deadline for submitting candidacies, the president of the Electoral Commission, Michy Enyeka Bowangalawanga, wrote to FECOFA's secretary general asking her “to officially forward a copy of the minutes of the Extraordinary General Assembly of 11 January 2025 amending the Statutes of the Congolese Football Association”.

Curiously, the document had not been sent by FECOFA's administration but by Ahmed Harraz, one of FIFA's governance officials, who sent the correspondence two days earlier. That is enough to raise questions about the federation's supposed independence. 

“It is deeply worrying to see that a document falling exclusively under FECOFA's authority was communicated by an outside body three days after the closing date for submitting candidacies for the FECOFA executive committee. This procedure constitutes a blatant interference in the electoral process of our Federation and amounts to outright fraud”, write the three league officials in their official letter sent to the president of the Electoral Commission and to FIFA.

Worse still, how can FIFA send a document that never existed? According to other members present at the Extraordinary General Assembly of 11 January 2025, there were never any minutes endorsing the change to the statutes. So what document can it be?

According to our information, the members of the Normalisation Committee at the time, whose appointment prompted warnings about their closeness to Véron Mosengo-Omba, authenticated the new statutes by means of a notarial deed. It was a manoeuvre that in no way complies with FECOFA's statutes, which require the approval of General Assembly members.

The changes to the statutes appeared in the official gazette on 28 April 2026

While the electoral process begun in 2025 aborted, the 2026 one seems set to succeed. Curiously, FECOFA waited for this very one, and for more than a year and three months, to authenticate the change to its statutes, which was published in the official gazette on 28 April 2026, a week after the deadline for submitting candidacies.

The matter was denounced by Patrice Mangenda, FECOFA's former deputy secretary general, who put himself forward as a candidate. In official correspondence to the Electoral Commission and FIFA, he cites Article 7 of FECOFA's electoral code and Article 19 of FIFA's statutes: 

“Electoral rules may not be amended after publication of the call for candidacies, except in cases of force majeure validated by FIFA.”

With the call for candidacies dated 5 April 2026 and the official change on 28 April 2026, the breach is plain to see. It raises questions about FIFA's real motives for staying silent in a process that respects no rules, not even its own, which could set a precedent for other federations or states wishing to push their candidate without regard for the statutes of the International Federation of Association Football.