National Teams: Bonus issues

The consensus was finally reached. The basketball Lionesses, who were on strike due to the low payment of their bonuses, finally received FCFA 15 million each.

It is far from the two million that was offered to them and caused a crisis in almost two weeks. Whether you agree or not on the amount or the method, it is questionable if all fuss would have been avoided. It was enough that premium rates for each qualifying round are known in advance.

The problem is not new. Cameroon has not been spared from this kind of business. We recently had the Indomitable Lionesses forced to claim more loudly for their bonuses after their World Cup in Canada.

Volleyball players, too after their return from the African Championship where they won a bronze medal in the last few months, have waited a long time before receiving their due. The episode of the Indomitable Lions before their departure for Brazil also is remembered. And these are examples among many others.

One can legitimately ask what right do our athletes have every time they represent the country in other lands. Does it in any case difficult to answer, no real text exist in the field. "This issue is managed according to different allocated budgets, which vary according to the importance of the competition. Furthermore, we must consider the availability of funds. The state, as now, is on several fronts, "a ministry official advance of Sports and Physical Education. Here we must admit that a more or less formal grid exists, but it is not necessarily respected.

Who would think, for example, to offer each of our Indomitable Lions a bonus of three million if they win a competition when these require nearly 50 million just to compete in the first round of the World Cup? This is certainly not the debate, football generating enough money for players to enjoy. But the fact is that apart from the men's game, to some extent at least, since there have been problems at this level, too, other sports are handled according to circumstances.

For each sports season, there are yet many a calendar of international competitions. We can, therefore, make appropriate budget from the start. But how to understand that some often give the impression of being surprised? What about the administrative delays that often procrastinate things? What about the lack of communication that sometimes leads to misunderstandings? And the corruption practiced by some officials?

Athletes, either, are not necessarily free from reproach; some take the opportunity to blackmail. But it is proof that we need a regulation as has been done in soccer in particular.

And it is also one of the new sites of MINSEP. The episode of the African Games 2015 where everything was known in advance and where we heard no complaints, for now at least, is proof that one may handle things differently with more visibility and Communication. Because the most important for everybody is primarily the interest of the Cameroonian sport.