Monrovia— Following claims made by the chief executive officer of FC Kallon Liberia Cassell Anthony Kouh that the Liberia Football Association refused his motivational bonus of US$5,000 to the women’s Under U-17 team, the president of Liberia Football Association, Mustapha Raji, has given reasons for the FA decision.
By: Christopher C Walker [email protected] 0777898224/0886723075
Cassell told journalists he does not know why the LFA will think “so low” to reject his contribution to the team. According to Kouh, he wanted to present the cash as a token from his heart and as a bonus to the Women’s U-17 team, but authorities of the LFA rejected the money out rightly.
Kouh told reporters at the end of the game on Sunday that he contacted football executives, including two LFA vice presidents, Sekou Konneh and Jodie Seeton about his plans to make the US$5,000 contribution to the team as his way of motivating the players, but he was drilled around by the football executives, especially the 3rd vice president Seaton and the deputy secretary general, before refusing not to respond to his calls.
He accused the association of using unnecessary protocols to prevent him from meeting the team. He revealed to the media that the team was denied his US$5,000 motivational bonus before their game against Nigeria U-17, which ended in a 4-1 defeat for Liberia.
Kuoh suggested that his offer was declined because he is a major contender to current LFA President Mustapha Raji in the 2026 election. He recounted making multiple calls to the head of women’s football and the acting secretary general, after initially speaking with Sekou Konneh and Executive Committee member Pawala Janyan, but his calls were ignored.
His intentions, he said, was as the result of LFA president Mustapha Raji’s appeals for Liberians to support the U-17 that was a step away from reaching the World Cup but were eliminated.
The LFA even went out to make the game free entry just to motivate the girls to give the needed result.
In response to Mr. Kouh, who is a former vice president of the LFA, Raji said there are things the LFA looks at before accepting money from people.
He said Mr. Kouh needs to provide to the LFA the source of his money before the football house can take such money.
He further recounted that the LFA Executive Committee in 2016 suspended Mr. Kouh for criminal acts, and as such the Football House will not take cash from him without knowing where the FC Kallon-Liberia owner is getting his money from.
Kouh was vice president of the LFA when he was arrested for gold fraud on November 16, 2016, and later that year suspended by the LFA EC on integrity grounds.
Speaking to Smile FM, a local radio station in Grand Gedeh County, Raji said he believes that no one in Grand Gedeh County will open their hands to receive money from a “ritualistic person”.
“Unfortunately, Mr. Kouh was in 2016 suspended by the Liberia Football Association Congress for his involvement in wire fraud and money laundering and doping people and pretending to be the owner of a gold mining company. He was jailed in the United States for seven years, released and came to Liberia, now such individual coming to Liberia accusing government officials as the people operating with him to release gold from the safe in scheming people but has not identified these government officials but they are the ones intending to make a donation now, we are concerned at the Football Association,” he said.
“First of all, if you want to make a donation, we need to know the source of your funding, we can’t just go and take money from anyone, Mr. Kouh, sorry to say, he was convicted of a crime a criminal offense, so we at the Football Association have to be very careful how we deal with individuals of such.”
Contrary to Raji’s statement, Konneh told FrontPage Africa that the LFA didn’t refuse Kouh’s donation.
Konneh said via WhatsApp that once communication is made with the secretary general and the technical director, or the women’s football department, no special protocol is required. Meanwhile, Seaton was contacted through a text message on WhatsApp but has yet to respond to the questions or allegations.
Kouh served seven years in prison after he was found guilty by a US court for committing wire fraud.
But following his return to the country in 2023, he returned to football and has attended the last two LFA congresses, participated in voting, and purchased a club of his own in the Liberia National Football League.
Lovers of football in the country and Liberia are wondering about a statement from the FA boss that they need to know the source of Kouh’s money when he (Kouh) attended two congresses without his suspension being lifted by congress.
The LFA did not deny him from attending those congresses, he was recognized and allowed to vote during the budget passing. Besides that, Kouh has since declared his intention to contest the LFA presidency, something which has added to the debate if Raji is re-elected for a third term.
