Muhangi cleared to contest  for AFBC Presidential seat

By Emmanuel Sekago
The Uganda Boxing Federation President Moses Muhangi is more than ready to contest for  the AFBC Presidential seat.

Muhangi who last year battled for the same seat with two other candidates at the confederation annual general elective assembly held on July 16th 2022 in Algiers, Algeria,  this time is more than confident to win the top seat.

It should be noted that Cameroon’s Bertrand Mendouga was  elected to serve a four-year term as President of the African Boxing Confederation (AFBC) after a vote was held at its Congress in Algiers to choose a successor to Mohamed Moustahsane.

Mendouga, who has experienced a long professional career in public finance, defeated Algeria’s Ferhat Abdelnour-Fazil and Uganda’s Moses Muhangi in the Algerian capital at an election attended by the International Boxing Association (IBA) President Umar Kremlev.

Ethiopia’s Eyassu Wossen Berhaun withdrew before the election with Mendouga polled 21 of the 40 votes, with Abdelnour-Fazil getting 10 and Muhangi with nine.

After his election,  Mendouga said “It’s a new day for Africa, I will not be the President of the 21 countries that voted for me, but the President for all the countries of Africa.”

In his manifesto, Mendouga had promised “to create visibility and influence” and “make substantial reforms for the development of boxing in Africa”.
But only a year after being elected, Bertrand Mendouga, was forced to step down by the AFBC at a meeting of the continental governing body’s Executive Committee meeting in his country’s capital Yaoundé.

The decision to force Mendouga out followed tensions at the Cameroonian Boxing Federation (Fécaboxe) which had forced the postponement of the African Boxing Championships in Yaoundé after the event finally started four days later than the re-arranged date, and concluded  in front of IBA President Umar Kremlev.

But the Championships was overshadowed by several problems and Mendouga has faced repeated accusations of conflicts of interest. Among the problems was a number of countries being eligible to compete, were unable to take part after buying airline tickets for the previous date of the Championships and losing the money when they were postponed, with Mendouga refusing to refund them.

Muhangi had accused Mendouga of ruling Fécaboxe with an “an iron fist” and claimed that he “is looking for a job but not to help boxing develop”. which led to Muhangi receiving a warning from the IBA Ethics Commission.

But the problems over the organisation of the African Boxing Championships, including the financing of the event, had led Kremlev to lose confidence in Mendouga, leading to moves to unseat him. So the 62-year-old Cameroonian was replaced on an interim basis by Nigeria’s Azania Omo-Agege Siena who is  the vice-president of the Nigerian Boxing Federation, pending the election of a new President this month.

The president of the Uganda Boxing Federation, Moses Muhangi talking to wallnetnews  at his offices in Lugogo confirmed  receiving  a nomination from The International Boxing Association (IBA) and has been approved to participate in the AFBC Presidential Election from the Boxing Independent Integrity Unit (BIIU) – Nomination Unit, as he met all the requirements outlined in Articles 27.6, 27.7, and 27.8 of the IBA Constitution, making him eligible for the AFBC Presidential Election.

The election is set to take place on October 13th, 2023, during the AFBC Extraordinary Congress in Durban, South Africa and Muhangi will face off  against four other candidates hailing from various parts of Africa. These include;  Omo-Agege Siena Azania, Berhanu Eyassu Wossen, El Kabbouri Mohamed and Mendouga Bertrand.