Monrovia— The Liberia Basketball Association has been threatened with court action for unsettled debts owed Kadi’s Bar and Restaurant for services rendered during the just-ended Federation of International Basketball Associations (FIBA)Zone-3 Women’s Basketball Africa League qualifiers.
By: Christopher C Walker [email protected]
Kadi’s Bar and Restaurant, a Liberian owned business, was hired by the LBA to cater for the teams and guests that participated in the FIBA zone Three Women’s qualifiers.
The FIBA Zone-3 Women’s Basketball Africa League was held at the SKD Gymnasium in Paynesville City from November 5-10, with seven clubs from Ivory Coast, Benin, Nigeria and hosts Liberia.
During the tournament, Kadi’s Bar and Restaurant was contacted to provide feeding for over one hundred persons, which included the seven clubs’ players, officials, match officials and other international guests two times daily for five days.
According to the agreement of the restaurant, they were asked to pre-pay the cost of the food, which the management did, but getting a return of their money has been difficult.
Speaking to FrontPage Africa, the management of Kadi’s expressed their disappointment in the LBA for the delay in paying their money.
The management asserted that they had to dig deep in their savings to foot the bill of the agreement but they are yet to get their money back.
The Liberian owned business said since the end of the tournament on November 10th they have yet to get any news about their money from the president and officials of the LBA, who have refused to respond to calls and getting officials at the office of the LBA has been difficult.
Kadi’s bar and restaurant claimed that the LBA owes them in the tune of $11,000USD (Eleven thousand United States dollars) but after the first two days, the LBA paid three thousand, but is yet to complete their payment, something that has not gone down well with the business.
Kadi’s has, meanwhile, threatened to take legal action against the Basketball Association so that they can get their money.
When reached the President of the Liberia Basketball Association, Abraham Samukai, admitted that the LBA is truly indebted to Kadi’s.
He told FrontPage Africa that they are trying their best to meet up with their responsibility because they can’t run away from it.
“It was a tournament we hosted just to boost the image of the country and we did not get money from it or FIBA, so when they called me to ask about their money I told them we are expecting money from two of our sponsors. As soon as they give us money we will settle our debt, this is not a liability that we will run away from,” Samukai said.
He disclosed that it’s not the federation of international Basketball Associations (FIBA) that owns Kadi’s Bar and Restaurant but rather the Liberia Basketball Association that made arrangements to feed the players and guests of the international tournament.
“Let me make this clear this debt is not for FIBA or the government of Liberia, people feel FIBA and the Government give us money but they didn’t give us money to run the tournament,”
“We wrote some companies in the country to help us with sponsorship they agreed it was how we were able to run this tournament but as I speak we are still convincing them to complete their payment so we can live up to our promises with these businesses.
“I can assure you that once we receive money from our sponsors this will be settled, we did not host this tournament to generate money but to get the exposure, which was good for us and our teams, the only disappointing thing is our teams didn’t do well in the tournament,” the LBA president added.
Meanwhile, the LBA allotted in the national budget $1200.00 USD, an amount that cannot be used to run the generator at the basketball gymnasium for a week.
Samukai said they decided to host the international tournament to regain the country’s image on the international scene of basketball because of the long absence from international basketball.
“Government only sponsors national teams and not these kinds of tournaments like when our under 18 male and female teams participated in the tournament in Ivory Coast it was the government that supported that trip, “he said.
Also, FrontPage Africa has been told the LBA is indebted to hotels that hosted the teams and guests and businesses are planning to take the LBA to court for them to pay their debts.
Ivorian Champions Friends Basketball Club won the FIBA Africa Zone-3 Women’s Basketball League Africa (WBLA) 2024 edition.
They beat Mountain of Fire and Miracle (MFM) in the grand finale.
