The appointment of Issa Hayayou and Carl Enow Ngachu recently by the 84 year old dictator Paul Biya has generated a lot of under-the-table talk in Yaoundé.  To be sure, Cameroon Intelligence Report can now reveal that the National Football Academy (ANAFOOT) is a ghost school.

Issa Hayatou, aged 71, is a former accomplished athlete who moonlighted during his career in at least three disciplines. Reconverted in his leadership, the Prince of Garoua in the North region for more than 35 years headed the Cameroon Football Federation, Fécafoot, the African Football Confederation, Caf, the World Football governing body, FIFA and the International Olympic Committee. He has done a remarkable job for the development of football in Africa recognized and hailed all over the world. Paul Biya has indeed appointed a worthy Cameroonian Ambassador who will be chairing the ANAFOOT (National Football Academy) Board of Directors. News of the appointment came out on Wednesday, May 24, 2017. Issa Hayatou was resurrected after a humiliating defeat in the last presidential election at CAF.

Correspondingly, Carl Enow Ngachu was also appointed by the President of the Republic as Director General of ANAFOOT. Carl Enow, 42, is also a former footballer and a former champion of Cameroon football, now given the onerous task of training young footballers. At the head of the technical crew of the indomitable Lionesses of Cameroon, he led the girls and wrote the best pages of Cameron’s female football history.

Given the profiles of the chosen one and the special one, we of CIR are tempted to say that for once, Paul Biya made the right decision. But the correctness of the presidential acts can not overshadow the fact that these new officials have been appointed to head an empty shell. Biya and his gang thrive on lies and deceit.  The National Football Academy does not have a physical existence anywhere in Cameroon. The site for the construction of ANAFOOT has not even been identified yet by the Yaoundé urban council mindful of the fact that it is exactly seven years today that Paul Biya, in a speech on the eve of the so-called Youth Day celebrated every 11^th of February that he promised his young compatriots, a college specializing in training in the football profession.

The history of ANAFOOT dates back to the aftermath of a final phase of the Africa Cup of Nations, Angola 2010 where after a mediocre performance by the indomitable Lions, made up of an aging workforce, Paul Biya, in his traditional speech to the youth on February 10, 2010, announced the creation of a football academy in order to prepare the next generation and perpetuate the hegemony of the indomitable Lions. This high school of football training, in liaison with the Ministry of Sports and Physical Education, the Ministry of Youth, and Fécafoot, is responsible for supervising and perfecting young people wanting to develop a career in football.

After having signed a first decree establishing ANAFOOT on 25 June 2014, and then on 28 April 2016 another decree on the organization and functioning of ANAFOOT, the two other decrees published yesterday, can be considered as a major step forward In the construction of this higher school. But, everything suggests that we could still wait for a long time to see this Academy actually functioning. Yet the reasons for its creation are still valid, and the situation has gone from bad to worse.

By Soter Tarh Agbaw-Ebai with files from CIN