Interfaith initiative sparks controversy at all-Africa football championships

"The estrangement from God among athletes at the CAF African Cup of Nations (AFCON) in Cameroon compels me to launch a discussion on secularism in Africa," said an exasperated Father Sylvester Olivier Eves. 

The Spiritan priest is pastor of Saint Pierre de Kong Parish in Yaoundé, the capital city, and coordinator of the Cameroon Association for Interreligious Dialogue (ACADIR).

With the backing of other Catholic, Protestant and Muslim members of ACADIR, he launched the idea of offering spiritual and religious services to athletes competing in the 33rd Africa Cup of Nations, a continent-wide football (soccer) tournament being held from January 9 to February 6 in Cameroon.

In an op-ed widely shared through traditional and social media in the country, Father Eves tried to clarify what the idea was all about.  

"A letter offering our service was sent to the minister of sports and physical education, as well as to the president of COCAN (Africa Cup of Nations Organising Committee),” said the Spiritan missionary who has served in several African countries.

“This offer was based upon three axes: 1) placing, according to communities of faith, a group of spiritual leaders in hotel rooms or with welcome services wherever the teams and delegations stay; 2) assuring religious services in places of residence on the days of worship; 3) accompanying each nation with an interreligious team of chaplains, according to the need expressed," the priest said.

A matter of budget 

Thirty religious leaders -- Catholic priests, Protestant pastors and Muslim imams -- also asked for an estimated 19,195,000 FCFA (about €29,305) to cover the costs of their services. 

But Eves’ letter remained unanswered.

Since the African Cup of Nations got underway on January 9, the Cameroonian ministry of sports and physical education has given no official reason why it has not responded to ACADIR's offer.

But Paul Moussi, a senior ministry official who is close to sports minister Narcisse Mouelle Kombi, said that "there are priorities in the organization of this competition for which the Confederation of African Football (CAF) is responsible".

"It is therefore difficult to impose religious worship upon the Confederation of African Football by asking it to finance the offer of religious services for which the amount is more than 19 million CFA francs," he added.

"The religious leaders themselves can finance this service in a patriotic manner," the ministry official said. 

Interfaith worship

It is a Cameroonian tradition that when the national team, the Indomitable Lions, participate in an international competition, the public authorities organize an interreligious worship service with the various religious leaders. 

Imam Ibrahim Moussa, the leader of a mosque in the capital Yaoundé and a member of ACADIR, denounced COCAN officials for not responding.  

"Nonetheless, we know that marabouts and other traditional practitioners who say they do magic have been recruited by the Africa Cup of Nations Organizing Committee and that this is taking place in our country,” he said.  

“They even witness to the work they do in the local media,” the imam claimed. 

“Marabout of AFCON”

A marabout (or Muslim holy man) who calls himself Essam went on a local radio station and said he was at the service of COCAN. 

He generated a lot of talk about himself on January 10 during prime time, claiming to be working for the smooth running of AFCON and the victory of the Indomitable Lions.

Marabout Essam has not disclosed how much he was being paid for his services, however.

Sources close to the ministry of sports and physical education point out that "in the past as today, there is always an informal budget for taking care of marabouts who work for the Indomitable Lions".

Pentecostal Pastor Zéphyrin Emmanuel Zoa, who heads the "Passion of Christ" Revival Church in Yaoundé, said civic leaders "must put God before all business". 

“This is not a matter of budget. The important thing is to place God in the center of everything,” he insisted.

The national team of Burkina Faso privately asked Spiritan Father Aimé Ilpoubou of Burkinabe to be its chaplain. 

And Spiritan Father Samuel Appiah, a Ghanaian currently serving in Cameroon, is serving as chaplain to Ghana’s national team.