Against Advertisement of Tobacco and Alcohol
in
African sports arenas
On the controversial issue of Tobacco advertisement, some in the executive Committee of the African Football Confederation argued, that F.I.F.A. was earning huge income from the advertisement of Tobacco, thus, no reason for Africa to refuse. Yidnekatchew explained; “the mission of the Confederation is the physical and mental well being of the African youth; which can not be sold for any amount of money. Promoting Tobacco is tantamount to selling the fundamental principle of the Confederation and therefore totally unthinkable”. It was his more convincing argument that won the consensus until he passed away.
His closest ally on this very divisive issue was fellow countryman, Dr.Yayehyirad Kitaw, member of the medical commissions of both the African Football Confederation and F.I.F.A. in the 1980s.
Dr. Yayehyirad
In 1987, just weeks before he passed away; the Supreme Council for Sports in Africa, met in his absence due to illness, and gave earlier refused permission to Kenya, allowing it to promote Tobacco, during the Nairobi African Games. He wrote letters of protest from his hospital bed, to then current Chairman of the Organization of African Unity, H.E. President David Sasso Neguesso, the Secretary General, H.E. Ide Oumarou and the World Health Organization.
Reuters
The letter to then Secretary General of the Organization of African Unity..
The S.C.S.A. was forced to withdraw its unconstitutional permission, only days before he passed away.
On 07 April 1988, he received posthumous recognition from the World Health Organization
In 1997, on the occasion of the commemoration of the tenth anniversary of Yidnekatchew Tessema's death, one of his long time colleagues, Somalian, Farah Addo, had this to say; “Yidnekatchew’s failure was in increasing the revenue of the Confederation. I remember one day, when I proposed to him to lift the ban on the publicity of Tobacco and Alcohol; he reacted by asking me angrily, "Do you want to poison our children"? When he was finally sick and in bed he appealed to us not to compromise on this issue. Although, philosophically he was right, no one could stop our youth from smoking and drinking. Thus, while F.I.F.A. was making lots of money from Tobacco advertisement, the Confederation stood by its President and was deprived of huge income”.
Farah Addo, standing.
The African Football Confederation permitted Tobacco advertisement three years after Yidnekatchew's death, but was forced to reinstate the ban following the intensified global campaign against smoking.
Yidnekatchew had thus proved in life and posthumous, that he was a head of his time in understanding the perils of some new tendencies and tirelessly fighting them even when the odds were strongly against him.
Honest historians and journalists can now appreciate in hindsight, that it is the values and views Yidnekatchew jealously defended, which were, and are, in the long term interest of African Football.
Follow the links below for brief narratives on important components that can not and should not be detached from the history of the African Football Confederation.
C.A.F.; the beginning.
C.A.F.; early dispute with F.I.F.A. on the issue of Apartheid.
C.A.F.; lengthy power struggle within, the turning point in Yaoundé 1972.
C.A.F.; the intrusion of the Supreme Council for Sports in Africa.
C.A.F.; evolution of the African Nations Cup.
C.A.F.; the battle for its rightful place in F.I.F.A..
C.A.F.; Preserving the history.
C.A.F.; Yidnekatchew Tessema and the current leadership of CAF.
Back to home page Yidnekatchew Tessema.
