AFCON 2021 : Cameroon Debunks Fraud Allegations

As the Africa Cup of Nations (TotalEnergies AFCON 2021) organised by Cameroon gains steam, some conventional and social media organs have been relaying false information accusing Cameroon of manipulations in conjunction with the Confederation of African Football (CAF) with the objective to favour Cameroon’s national team, the Indomitable Lions.
There have been allegations that most of the Covid-19 tests carried out on the players and technical staff of Cameroon’s opponents are deliberately manipulated with the intention of distorting the results and weaken the country’s opponents to favour the Indomitable Lions’ victory.  The perpetrators of the allegations claim that except Cameroon, key players of some teams such as Senegal, Tunisia, Burkina Faso, Gabon and Comoros have been kept aside in key matches caused by positive Covid-19 test results. The same media organs have gone ahead to allege that the refereeing of matches involving the Indomitable Lions of Cameroon is being done in such a way to favour the team. Some consider the red cards given Gambian players such as Yusupha Njie and Ibrahima Sory Conte in their match against Guinea as a way to prepare for Cameroon’s victory. Another accusation concerns logistical shortcomings with regard to the accommodation of certain sports delegations. The head coach of the Gambian team, Tom Saintfiet levied accusations of discrimination between teams. He cited the case of his team in which six players were lodged in the same room with some of them sharing the same bed.
Such allegations from every indication are not new to the country considering that even when Cameroon was virtually ready for the competition in terms of sports infrastructure and other logistics, fake information still went viral that the country was not ready, all with the intention of causing the organisation of the competition to be withdrawn. Communication Minister and Gover...