Controversy continues to follow noble efforts of SIphiwe Baleka
Thursday, May 26, 2022 - The President of the Guinea Bissau Swimming Federation (Federação de Natação da Guiné-Bissau - FNGB) Siphiwe Baleka and Secretary General Daiana Gomes arrived in Dakar, Senegal for the CANA Zone 2 Championships being held at the Piscine Olympique. Mr. Baleka is also Guinea Bissau’s only FINA- ranked swimmer and planned to compete in seven events.
“I was given citizenship to my ancestral homeland of Guinea Bissau specifically to compete and represent the county, which the Minister of Justice determined was ‘in the national interest’,” said President Baleka. “Unfortunately, the Guinea Bissau National Olympic Committee (GBNOC) has been working against the national interest and unlawfully interfering in the federation’s affairs to prevent me from competing.”
Dr. Mohammad Diop, President of the Confederation Africaine de Natation (C.A.N.A) and host of the CANA Zone 2 Championships adamantly refused to recognise the FNGB delegation as the legal governing body of the sport in Guinea Bissau because of a letter sent to him on April 12 by GBNOC President Sergio Mane falsely stating that Mr. Baleka “named himself President of the Federation without convoking a general assembly fully empowered to do so” and recognising the retired past President Mr. Duarte Ioia as the President of the Federation.
However, on October 25, 2021 Duarte Ioia resigned as President of the GBSF citing “personal circumstances and health” as his reasons for resigning. In addition, Mr. Ioia stated, “I am resigning my position as President and naming Mr. Siphiwe Baleka as Interim President, subject to Board approval, until GBSF by-laws are drafted and approved and the General Assembly can meet in March to hold elections.” .
On October 26, 2021 the GBSF Board met at the Ledger Hotel and “the members of the Board present unanimously agreed with the request of the president Duarte Ioia.” Siphiwe was thus installed as GBSF Interim President with Board approval. Letters in Portuguese were sent to the Minister of Sport, Mr. Florentino Dias, and the President of the Guinea Bissau Olympic Committee, Mr. Sergio Mane while English translations were sent to the FINA Legal Department informing FINA of this new development.
Mr. Ioia’s resignation came right after he made the following remarks at a press conference in Guinea Bissau (remarks made at 30:05 mark https://fb.watch/cUKVH_j0Rw/) announcing Mr. Baleka’s participation in the 14th African Swimming Championships last October:
"Duarte Ioia (DI): Guinea-Bissau will participate in an event that will bring together 42 National Federations, that is, 42 countries. Each country has 2, 3 or 4 athletes and we will only participate with 1.
We were very happy with the opportunity this time to participate with one person. For us, this man (Siphiwe Baleka) is not a person, he is more than one, for us there are 5 who will participate.
We never thought that, in such a short period, when the federation is being relaunched, we could have a representation of the country abroad. It's something we fought hard for, but we didn't manage to have the quality; That's why, for us, 1 person equals 5.
Journalist (J): Is it not a lack of finances, but of human resources that makes Guinea-Bissau participate with just 1 person?
DI: What I've talked about most here is the lack of human resources, we don't have athletes because we've just started.
J: What is the Federation going to do to have many athletes?
DI: The plan that Mr. Siphiwe Baleka has, that's the Federation's plan. After he competes at the World Championships in Dubai, he will return to develop the swimming sport plan here in Guinea-Bissau. That plan is that of the Federation. It will develop within the Federation's swimming program.
J: Mr. Baleka will represent Guinea-Bissau in the championship. Like other Guinean athletes, Baleka should have participated in the Olympic Games and he himself went to Tokyo, but he was unable to participate and returned. What failed in his participation in the Olympic Games?
DI: Many things failed, including our lack of experience. We relaunched the Federation in February and things were already underway for Tokyo. We were not able to organize ourselves well so that we could follow the process; everything we tried to do was delayed. Everything got mixed up and we ended up getting lost in the organization for Tokyo. Baleka was more advanced than the Federation itself due to the peers he has outside. We (Federation) were not prepared and we were dependent on the Olympic Committee, but unfortunately there was not a good feedback because the Federation was not well organized. That was the reason for him not being able to participate and since that time we felt very bad and decided to blame ourselves. I was the first to blame myself - "things failed, I'm the one in front, I'm the president, so I'm the one who failed". I always had the dream of getting there, but things failed, against my will.
J: Are you already in a position to prevent something like this from happening again?
DI: I'm not in full possession, because only God has that ability, but I'm already well aligned with my colleagues and the entire Federation staff so that this never happens again, to serve as a lesson for us.
When we delegate a function to someone, that person will have to fulfill their function together with us, we will no longer hand over our affairs to others to perform them. That was our fault, because we entrusted everything to the Olympic Committee, since we had just started and we didn't know about it. I take the blame, as president of the Federation, and I assure you that it will not happen again.“
Upon notification of the appointment of the Interim President, Loïc Loutan, the head of the Legal Department at the Fédération Internationale De Natation (FINA), the global governing body of the sport, replied,
“I have noted that you would have been appointed as ad interim president of the Guinea Bissau Swimming Federation on 26 October 2021. To be able to assess such change, could you please provide FINA with a translated version, in a FINA official language – either English or French -, of the minutes of the Board meeting that took place on 26 October 2021, accompanied with an attendance sheet to the said board meeting. Moreover, can you please provide a copy of the current constitution from the Guinea Bissau Swimming Federation, as well either in English or French.”
An investigation revealed that the former President, Mr. Duarte Ioia did not have a constitution. Informed of this, Mr. Loutan then asked, “How the GB Swim Federation is able to operate, conduct electoral process, pass decisions, etc. if it currently does not have any approved constitution?”
Section C 9.1.3 of the FINA Constitution requires federations seeking FINA membership to submit “a copy of its current constitution and rules and regulations” and section C 7.3 states “The constitution of Members shall be approved by FINA upon their affiliation.”
“My question to FINA is this: how did you recognize a federation from Guinea Bissau with no constitution, that never completed FINA’s constitutional compliance form, and didn’t pay FINA dues?” asks Mr. Baleka. “Dr. Diop a FINA Bureau Member and Secretary General of CANA says that FINA recognized Duarte Ioia as the President in the past. If that’s true, then why does FINA not accept that Duarte Ioia resigned and appointed me Interim President of the federation that FINA recognizes and then congratulate me for legalizing it under the laws of the Republic of Guinea Bissau? Why am I being asked so many questions and being required to submit so much documentation that, apparently, was never asked of Duarte Ioia? It doesn’t make sense,” said Mr. Baleka.
On January 29, 2022, a quorum of the remaining active members of the Executive Board, including Siphiwe Baleka completed his first task serving as Interim President “until GBSF by-laws are drafted and approved”. Interim President Siphiwe Baleka, Vice President of the Fiscal Committee Sufri Afonso Balanta, Treasurer Jean Mane as well as Daiana Gomes met to approve and sign the FNGB Revised Constitution & the FNGB Rules and Regulations 2022. In attendance was Alberto Dias, Director of Sport, Republic of Guinea Bissau. The FNGB also paid its FINA Annual Membership dues the same day.
It was only after this that it was revealed the the former retired past President Mr. Duarte Ioia never registered the swimming federation and thus it had no legal presence. On February 1, FNGB Fiscal Council Vice President Sufri Balanta received a Federation Negative Certificate from SUZETTE MARIA LOPES DA COSTA GRACA CONSERVATIVE OF THE BUILDING, COMMERCIAL AND AUTOMOTIVE PROPERTY REGISTRATION OF GUINEA BISSAU informing him that no "Federação de Natação da Guiné-Bissau" was ever registered with the Ministry of Justice according to the law of the Republic of Guinea Bissau. On February 22, Interim President Siphiwe Baleka, FNGB Fiscal Council Vice President Sufri Balanta, FNGB Treasurer Jean Mane, Claudio Altip, Honório Djata, Daiana Gomes and Balanto Djassi held a Constitutive Assembly and Interim President Siphiwe Baleka and Fiscal Council Second Vice President signed and sealed the FNGB Act of Constitution. Finally, on April 11, the Ministry of Justice issued a certificate of registration formally legalizing the FNGB as the sole federation governing aquatics in the Republic of Guinea Bissau.
On Saturday, April 30 the legally recognized FNGB held its 1st General Assembly at the auditorium at the University of Jean Piaget and elected its Executive Officers. On May 17th, the Executive Officers were inducted in a state ceremony attended by Braima Dabó the Director of Sports Infrastructure of the Directorate-General of Sports representing the government of the Republic of Guinea Bissau. Then on May 24, FNGB President, Siphiwe Baleka was received by the Minister of Sports of Guinea-Bissau, Mr Augusto Gomes.
Left: Augusto Gomes, Minister of Culture, Youth and Sports; Right: Siphiwe Baleka, President of the Guinea Bissau Swimming Federation.
The current controversy began on March 3, 2022 when the resigned past President Duarte Ioia sent letters to the Ministry of Sport, the National Olympic Committee, and FINA fraudulently representing himself as the “President” of FNGB and presenting misinformation, falsely stating that the Interim President was only given the position until February and failed to achieve anything when Mr. Ioia’s own resignation letter clearly states in the third paragraph:
“For this reason I am resigning my position as President and naming Mr. Siphiwe Baleka as Interim President, subject to Board approval, until GBSF by-laws are drafted and approved and the General Assembly can meet in March to hold elections”.
It is noted that Duarte Ioia states in his March 3 letter sent to the GBNOC, “At this meeting, the appointment of Siphiwe Ka Baleka to the position of Interim President until February 2022 when an A.G session would take place”, invalidating Sergio Mane’s statement to Dr. Diop that Mr. Baleka “named himself President of the Federation without convoking a general assembly fully empowered to do so”.
Meanwhile, after having been fully informed through several email correspondences both directly and indirectly through the FINA Legal department, Dr. Diop chose to invite Mr. Duarte Ioia to the CANA Presidents WhatsApp group and exclude the legally elected President of the FNGB. This exclusion has now extended to Mr. Baleka, Guinea Bissau’s highest ranked swimmer according to the FINA point ranking system who is being excluded from competing in the CANA Zone 2 West African Swimming Championships while a swimmer, recruited directly by Sergio Mane himself and trained for just one month, will instead be representing the people of Guinea Bissau.
The FINA Constitution states,
“C 7 MEMBERS
C 7.1 The national governing body for swimming, open water swimming, diving, high jumping, water polo, artistic swimming and Masters in any sporting country or country will be eligible to become a FINA Member pursuant to FINA Rule C 9 .
C 7.2 There can only be one (1) body recognized by FINA as a Member and as the only national water sports body in a sporting country or country. A Member's jurisdiction will be limited to the political boundaries of the country or Country of Sport it represents.
C 7.3 The constitution of Members shall be approved by FINA upon their affiliation. The constitution and rules of a Member must in any event not be in conflict with the FINA Rules. Where there is a conflict, the FINA Rules shall prevail.
C 8 RIGHTS AND DUTIES OF MEMBERS
C 8.1 All Members are entitled:
C 8.1.1 to use the services of FINA,
C 8.1.2 to take part in the FINA World Championships and FINA competitions when they are eligible, and
C 8.1.3 to be recognised as the only Aquatics’ governing body of its country or Sport Country, by everybody, including its National Olympic Committee.
The CANA Constitution states,
“ARTICLE 3 MEMBERSHIP
1 The National Federation controlling swimming, diving, water-polo, synchronized swimming, open water swimming and masters swimming programme in any African country which are also members of Federation Internationale de Natation (“FINA”) shall be eligible for membership of CANA.
2 Only one Federation in any African country can be a member of CANA and where the six disciplines of CANA are separated in any country in Africa, only one of them representing the six disciplines can be a member of CANA.”
As the legally recognized swimming federation in Guinea Bissau, under FINA rules, the FNGB whose President is Siphiwe Baleka has the right to be recognized as the only Aquatics governing body by the GBNOC and has the right to compete in the championships. Under CANA rules, a federation must be a member of FINA. And under FINA rules, a federation’s constitution must be submitted and approved by FINA.
In an effort to bring all parties in Guinea Bissau into unity for the good of the country and for the future development of the swimming federation, FNGB President Siphiwe Baleka called for a meeting of all parties involved.
“The FINA and CANA rules are very clear,” said President Baleka. “How can FINA and CANA recognize an unregisterd federation without a constitution simply because the Guinea Bissau National Olympic Committee has a secret agenda and is probably getting money from it? This violates FINA’s autonomy rule C8.2.9 to manage its affairs independently and not be influenced by third parties. We have done everything to meet the requirements of the laws of the Republic of Guinea Bissau and the requirements of FINA, including submitting its Constitutional requirements form. The refusal of Sergio Mane to comply with the laws, as well as past actions of the President of the National Olympic Committee and Mr. Duarte Ioia, which we will soon reveal and include lying to FINA during our case at the Court of Arbitration for Sport, have prevented me from competing and performing my national duty as determined by the Minister of Justice and are criminal. We intend to file charges to recover substantial financial damages.”
From left to right: Dr. Mohamed Diop, FINA Bureau Member and General Secretary of the African Swimming Federation (CANA) drmohameddiop@yahoo.fr; Mr. Sérgio Mane, President of the Guinea Bissau Olympic Committee (GBOC) COMITEOLIMPICOGB@gmail.com; and Duarte Ioia, President of the Guinea Bissau Swimming Federation (GBSF) duarte.ioia54@gmail.com