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
