THE NAAA CONSTITUTION HAS NOT BEEN CONSTITUTIONALLY AMENDED ADOPTED

Constitutional Amendment Process

The authority to amend the Constitution of the NAAA  is derived from Article 52 of the Constitution.

After the General Council of the NAAA proposes an amendment. There must be a 2/3 majority, a debate, joint resolution, adoption, ratification. Implementation.

 The secretary is charged with of responsibility for Records administering the ratification process

These duties  and responsibilities  should be administered by  an independent agent.

The Constitution provides that an amendment may be proposed by the General Council   with a two-thirds majority vote by its bonafide members.

The General Council proposes an amendment in the form of a joint resolution of its members.  The President does not have a constitutional role in the amendment process. However, the statutory procedure for ratification requires the signature of both the President and the Secretary IF THE PRESIDENT IS NOT PRESENT AT THE MEETING  HIS Representative and the secretary MUST AFFIX THEIR SIGNATURE TO THE ADOPTION PROCESS. This must be witnessed by all members present on the date of the proposed adoption.

Constitution of the National Association of Athletics Administrations

ARTICLE:52

 

This Constitution was not constitutionally amended and adopted at a Special General Meeting held on the Saturday 22^nd October 2016.

1.     The meeting was unconstitutional.

2.     There was no quorum 25 required 21 showed up.

3.     The President was not in attendance at the meeting held on the 22^nd November at the Radisson Hotel

4.     The President could not have signed the document on the day in question as required.

5.     The 1stVice President chaired the meeting; He chose not to sign the document as required.

6.      The purpose of the meeting was to fix a date in November for the Annual General Meeting as required.

7.     It was not the purpose of the meeting to adopt the constitution.

The voting club delegates should ask for the minutes of the meeting held on the 22^nd November 2016.

Examine the document carefully for the number of delegates present, their signature attesting to their presence .the number of delegates who voted on that day, Was the voting by secret ballot or “I” vote etc. Who chaired the meeting? Why is The President Signature on the Adoption document and he was not in the building. Why did the 1^st Vice President refused to sign the adoption Document as required by the constitution?

 

Dr.Cliff Bertrand

Olympian

The NAAA is in shambles because of money

The world bodies must be blamed for everything that's taking place in an unmonitored TTOC/NAAA operations in T&T. because of their failure to put proper structures in place in the hands of Neophytes. Too much recycling of positions within the NAAA makes it a perfect breeding ground for corruption to hold on to office for the enjoyment of incentives. The NAAA has a history of recycling administrative positions on National Teams going on foreign Track & Field assignments. They call themselves members of the “Flyers Club” the frequent flyers.

“One of the saddest lessons of history is this: If we’ve been bamboozled long enough, we tend to reject any evidence of the bamboozle. We’re no longer interested in finding out the truth. The bamboozle has captured us. It’s simply too painful to acknowledge, even to ourselves, that we’ve been taken. Once you give a charlatan power over you, you almost never get it back.”

― Carl Sagan, The Demon-Haunted World: Science as a Candle in the Dark

As the NAAA’s Annual General Meeting election rivalry heats up, news media outlets in T&T is Taciturn. They have not published any information about the impact funds from sponsor organizations may have on the overall “athletic political system” in the country. Corruption is a major ongoing issue in the country and as the saying goes, “money talks.” The current NAAA body is using this element of their vision effectively.

Transparency International is an organization that tracks public sector corruption in different countries. The T&T Sporting power implementations should pursue some form of guidance.

The NAAA is very blatantly mismanaging the development of athletic clubs, facilities and equipment operations in the country. The intent of the organization is money based. “Show me the money!”

HERE IS THE MONEY: 

The affiliated clubs are dealing with the known issues of corruption and perception of corruption. The clubs want change in the NAAA political system. Essentially, it caused a massive flood of money to enter the electoral system equating money and free speech.

The current NAAA president wants it changed the way non-profit organizations can spend money, which increased the number of political action committees and other similar organizations, removing the previous financial restrictions on them. The effects of that decision will be felt at almost all levels of Track & Field within the NAAA’s political engagement.

While the marriage between money and the NAAA politics continues to be worked out, the importance of continued vigilance on the issue of corruption needs to be sustained.

Dr.Cliff Bertrand

Olympian

Is this not the peoples’ business?

The responsibility of the Treasurer is in question.

Did the Treasurer perform her duties in accordance with the constitution?

Did she provide monthly financial statements to the Executive?

Did she provide quarterly statements to the general council?

The Adidas contract appeared to be a very private document only seen and signed by the President, 1st Vice President and 2nd Vice President. Who for undisclosed reasons is not seeking re-election?

What is so secretive about this document?

Why has this contract not been shared with other members of the executive or the general council?

Is this not the people’s business? The NAAA President has the answer.

The financial statements of 2014 and 2015 have not shown any detail accountability of monies provided in this contract.

Should Adidas be contacted regarding the transparency of this arrangement?

An independent financial audit should be executed on all monies expended re this arrangement

The NGC contract is another covert prearrangement. The NGC auditors have to be called into examine all monies expended on this program in accordance with the contract engagements.

The question was put to the NAAA President:”why hold the meeting at the Radisson and what is the cost?”

Response: “you don’t need to know that. None of yuh dammed business! NGC paying not you!”

The issue here is that it cost nothing to conduct the meeting at:

# 1 Hasely Crawford Conference Room capacity approximately 120 persons

# 2 Ato Bolden capacity approximately 100 persons.

This is the Radisson’s position:

Adidas is giving the NAAA $ 200,000 USD annually to develop athletics in T&T plus apparels.

The Adidas contract was signed on 17.10.13 but took effect from the 1.1.13 to 31.12.16

Amount on Contract: $800,000USD plus uniforms

$200,000 USD per year

Bonuses:

• Gold Silver Bronze
• Olympic 25,000 20,000 15,000
• World Champ 20,000 15,000 13,000
• Pan Am 20,000 15,000 13,000

The bonus is for individual medals.

Dr.Cliff Bertrand

Olympian

This NAAA Executive has been underperforming

What happens when the current athletes fail to be productive and you have no replacements at any level of the present system? When the Teams continue to be non- competitive? When both a tightfisted Sports Company and the Government refuse to fund non-productive teams under the current system?

The current President of the NAAA and his executive must be held accountable for the mismanagement of funding activities within the organization. An inconvenient reality of expenditure monies from the Adidas and the NGC operations is of national interest.

The NAAA has been Media unfriendly and highly secretive in their operations.

The current NAAA executive has had their chance to lead. This executive has been underperforming in the execution of their duties and service to the NAAA affiliates for the past decade.

Stakeholders would be dishonest if they pretended, at this point, to expect changes in Trinidad& Tobago’s Athletic program with the re-election of the current body of administrators. These are the same players who have not done anything for athletics in the past decade.

They will continue to travel .There will be no meaningful reports from officials. Athletes will continue to be abused. Coaches who cannot coach will continue disrupt team performances. There will be a continuance of manipulations of managerial positions on every departing team.

My fear is that if the club delegates, because of intimidation, do not show up and vote, the same performance will continue to be the Modus operandi of the NAAA Executive Slate.

The NAAA has proven to be tremendously effective manipulators of the system.

They are very effective when it comes to energizing and mobilizing phantom clubs. Delegates that only show up for the convenience of Executive support and pending privileges.

Small clubs of working-class affiliates who live in small villages and rural areas across the country do not get invited to the established NAAA Meetings designed for the chosen few.

Phantom delegates who bought into the pledge to incentive stipends for their clubs and for services rendered show up to pledge allegiance to the NAAA Executive By voting for the slate.

The NAAA Executive promises are of the non-serious variety, in that they will not be fulfilled. The NAAA knows full well that once re-elected change cannot be reversed.

Phantom clubs who become active only around the NAAA election process should be questioned for motive.

Minister of Sports Darryl Smith promised the nation that under his watch sporting organizations would be held accountable for every cent of taxpayers’ monies given to them.

What does this mean? How is he going to monitor this behavior or even enforce unrevealed policies which would influence his decisions? He failed to say. When one speaks of “accountable for every cent”. This leaves one to believe, that there will be close examination of “Financial Statements” submitted by sporting organizations to the Ministry of Sports.

The previous administration cited how the NAAA failed to produce an accurate “Financial Statement “it was incomplete and unsupported by relevant documents.

Seeing that there was a concealment of information that should have been disclosed, was this presentation by the NAAA considered as fraudulent? Fraud is commonly understood as dishonesty calculated for advantage.

Was the NAAA’S actions masked by these elements:

1. a false statement of a material fact,

2. knowledge on the part of the NAAA that the statement is untrue,

3. intent on the part of the NAAA to deceive the Ministry of Sports

4. justifiable reliance by the Ministry of Sports on the statement,

5. Deceiving the Ministry of Sports as a result.

If so, then, it may have been viewed in the law as an intentional misrepresentation of existing material fact. This behavior could also be viewed as deliberate deception to secure unfair or unlawfully gained public monies in the form of a budget request.

The NGC has recently provided funding to the NAAA. What is the quantum and duration .what are the objectives of this arrangement and what are the inputs and outputs? Correctly how this funding is utilized. Have the athletes benefited from this arrangement? Why are some athletes asking for administrative interventions?

Adidas has also given the NAAA an undisclosed amount of monies. What are the terms of this contract? There should be an audit of financial statements, a record of all funding received and sources. The question of how the funding was utilized and a breakdown engagement of lump sum items.

Dr. Cliff Bertrand

Olympian