{"id":4111,"date":"2026-09-30T13:30:55","date_gmt":"2026-09-30T13:30:55","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/thedawnrwanda.com\/?p=4111"},"modified":"2026-09-30T13:30:55","modified_gmt":"2026-09-30T13:30:55","slug":"shema-resigns-as-ferwafa-chief-weeks-after-election-and-criminal-case","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/thedawnrwanda.com\/index.php\/2026\/09\/30\/shema-resigns-as-ferwafa-chief-weeks-after-election-and-criminal-case\/sports\/","title":{"rendered":"Shema resigns as FERWAFA chief weeks after election and criminal case"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-full\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"618\" height=\"404\" src=\"https:\/\/thedawnrwanda.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/09\/images-4-9.jpg\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-4112\" srcset=\"https:\/\/thedawnrwanda.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/09\/images-4-9.jpg 618w, https:\/\/thedawnrwanda.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/09\/images-4-9-300x196.jpg 300w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 618px) 100vw, 618px\" \/><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Shema Ngoga Fabrice has stepped down as president of Rwanda&#8217;s football governing body, just weeks after being elected and days after his release following a criminal case involving $600,000 in dishonoured cheques.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Shema submitted his resignation to the FERWAFA General Assembly on September 29, saying he was acting to protect the integrity of the federation and preserve public confidence in its leadership.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">He was elected on August 30, making his tenure less than a month long.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">His resignation followed his release from custody on September 22 under a plea agreement with the prosecution. Shema had been arrested on August 10 after being accused of issuing dishonoured cheques and obtaining property through fraud.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Under the agreement, he admitted issuing a dishonoured cheque, an offence under Rwanda&#8217;s law governing negotiable instruments, and obtaining another person&#8217;s property through fraud under the country&#8217;s general criminal law.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The prosecution sought a six-month prison sentence suspended for one year and a 3 million Rwandan franc fine.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The case concerned two cheques worth $600,000 that Shema had issued in connection with a contract between his company, Africa Media Supplier, and ABZL International General Trading LLC, a company based in the United Arab Emirates.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Shema paid the company before his release, according to the information provided in the case.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">In his resignation letter, Shema described his decision as one taken in good faith and linked to his personal conduct. He said stepping down immediately would help safeguard FERWAFA&#8217;s integrity, maintain confidence in the federation and allow its work to continue without disruption.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The resignation leaves FERWAFA facing a leadership transition only weeks after its latest election.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Shema&#8217;s departure also comes as Rwanda&#8217;s national football team is preparing for its next 2027 Africa Cup of Nations qualifying matches against Mali in November.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The federation has not yet announced who will take over its leadership following his resignation.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Shema Ngoga Fabrice has stepped down as president of Rwanda&#8217;s football governing body, just weeks after being elected and days after his release following a [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":4112,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[43,41,34,27],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-4111","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-current_affairs","category-hot_topics","category-national","category-sports"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/thedawnrwanda.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4111","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/thedawnrwanda.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/thedawnrwanda.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thedawnrwanda.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thedawnrwanda.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=4111"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/thedawnrwanda.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4111\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":4113,"href":"https:\/\/thedawnrwanda.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4111\/revisions\/4113"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thedawnrwanda.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/4112"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/thedawnrwanda.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=4111"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thedawnrwanda.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=4111"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thedawnrwanda.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=4111"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}