The new Minister of Justice and Human Rights, Albino Gomes. Albino Gomes was born on October 20, 1967, in Cacheu. Graduated in Law from the Faculty of Law of Bissau, he specialized in Civil Law and Civil Procedure at the National Institute of Judicial Studies in Luanda (INEJ) in 2005. In 2000 he joined the Judiciary, as Chief Judge of the Third Court. He was appointed Chief Judge of the Sectorial Court of Bissau – Sintra (III – Judgment) in 2000 and later promoted to the category of Judge of Law, being placed on the Crime Rod of the Regional Court of Bissau. He was Legal Adviser to several State institutions and consultant for several laws and statutes. Leader of the PAIGC, he served as Secretary General of the Ministry of Economy, as well as reaching the position of Director General of Customs and now appointed to exercise the position of Minister of Justice and Human Rights.
September 1, 2023, Bissau - The President of the Guinea Bissau Swimming Federation, Siphiwe Baleka, met with the new Minister of Justice and Human Rights, Albino Gomes, to discuss the pending frivolous litigation that is preventing the Federation from functioning, entering swimmers in competition including the 2024 Olympics in Paris, and ultimately depriving young people in the country great opportunities to train under one of the greatest black swimmers in history.
Although President Baleka successfully legalized the swimming federation on April 12, 2022, the President of the Guina Bissau National Olympic Committee, Mr. Sergio Mane, has led an effort to block the country’s best swimmer from competing and helped initiate litigation against the legal federation in July of 2022. Although a hearing was later set last year, neither the judge nor the party initiating the litigation showed up. Since then, nothing has been done to adjudicate the case.
“We hoped the new Minister of Justice would be able to do something to see that the case concludes within thirty days so that the Federation can be eligible to compete in the 2024 Olympics in Paris ,” said President Baleka. “This would bring a lot of positive publicity to the country as well as resources to be used to help Guinea Bissau athletes and develop the sports infrastructure. Unfortunately, Minister Albino Gomes stated that there was nothing he could do and suggested we go to the Ministry of Sport.”
Though Ms. Indira Cabral Embaló is the new Minister of Culture, Youth and Sport as a result of the July elections, President Baleka stated that he was not too optimistic. The previous Minister of Sport, Augusto Gomes, was complicit in helping Mr. Mane block Mr. Baleka from competing at last year’s CANA Zone 2 West African Swimming Championships in which Mr. Baleka would have won the country’s first ever medals in the sport.
Outgoing Minister of Sport, Augusto Gomes, with Guinea Bissau Swimming Federation President Siphiwe Baleka, meeting in May 2022. With this handshake, Minister Gomes agreed to provide President Baleka with a Certificate of Recognition and instructed him to return the next day to receive it. After weighting for six hours in his office, Minister Gomes refused the certificate which prevented President Baleka, who is also the country’s best swimmer, from competing in several competitions in 2022, including the World Championships, which has cost Mr. Baleka several sponsorships, contracts and endorsements.
“This is the fourth Minister of Sport in the last two years. If that office could resolve the matter, we wouldn’t be in this situation today.” Indeed, after a year, the outgoing Minister of Sport, Mr. Augusto Gomes, finally issued a generic Certificate of Recognition on June 27, 2023 - a full year after he initially promised it. However, when asked to contact World Aquatics on behalf of Federation President Siphiwe Baleka to secure the recognition from the international governing body of the sport, the Minister of Sport refused.
“Nothing on the generic certificate that former Minister of Sport Augusto Gomes issued indicates who is the President of the legally registered swimming federation in Guinea Bissau. So it does nothing to resolve the case, “ said President Baleka. “If I drop the certificate and John Smith picks it up and presents it, does that mean John Smith is the swim federation President? So we need the new Minister of Sport, Ms. Indira Cabral Embaló, to contact World Aquatics on our behald and tell them clearly that the National Olympic Committee does not decide who is the legal federation, it is the Ministry of Justice and the Ministry of Sport, and both of them recognize the legally registered Swimming Federation, of which I am its duly elected President.”
The new Minister of Culture, Youth and Sport, Ms. Indira Cabral Embaló
Meanwhile, all the evidence from both parties were submitted to the court a year ago. The court could resolve the case once and for all. But the Minister of Justice says he is powerless to do anything. Thus imputy allows Mr. Mane to continue interfering in the swim federation’s business and justice for Mr. Baleka, who estimates his financial losses at almost 200 million CFA (US $300,000) remains elusive. The questions must be asked of the President of the National Olympic Committee: why is he trying to prevent the development of the swimming federation which could add two more swimmers to the roster for the next Olympics? Isn’t this a betrayal of his duty?
Acoording to Mr. Baleka, “There’s a Balanta proverb, 𝐚𝐟𝐞𝐫 𝐧𝐠𝐞 𝐡𝐚𝐚𝐥𝐞. "The sorcerer (or witch) never denounces himself" meaning 𝑾𝒉𝒐𝒆𝒗𝒆𝒓 𝒄𝒐𝒎𝒎𝒊𝒕𝒔 𝒂 𝒄𝒓𝒊𝒎𝒆 𝒏𝒆𝒗𝒆𝒓 𝒔𝒖𝒓𝒓𝒆𝒏𝒅𝒆𝒓𝒔 (𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝒘𝒓𝒐𝒏𝒈𝒅𝒐𝒆𝒓 𝒏𝒆𝒗𝒆𝒓 𝒂𝒄𝒌𝒏𝒐𝒘𝒍𝒆𝒅𝒈𝒆𝒔 𝒉𝒊𝒔 𝒘𝒓𝒐𝒏𝒈𝒔).”