I WAS on a quest last year to try to understand how the systems work for the Track and Field(T&F) fraternity in Guyana, only for education purposes and in the process I had some interactions with persons who come under the umbrella of T&F. Great concerns were voiced by those persons and I will state for the record that many did say that it was their understanding that the Athletics Association of Guyana(AAG) headed by Mr. Colin Boyce receives funding from the IAAF.
I brushed it off because I always felt that it was the government and the business community’s responsibility to send athletes to attend overseas meets.
At an open forum, I defended Mr. C. Boyce and the AAG and it caused me to be disrespected in the worst manner one could think of because persons felt that I was on the side of the AAG and Mr. C. Boyce. I left it there.

It was after perusing Mr. C. Ram’s report which was supported by SN about sports administrations  not producing financial reports, that I realised I may have been misled by thinking all’s well with accountability within the sports sector. At the same time, I don’t believe that when the words ‘sports administrations’ were penned that it meant, Marbles, Hopscotch and Skipping sports associations in Guyana.

I took advantage of the report which was transmitted via the dailies and appealed to both presidents of the GOA and the AAG to go on record and prove that the report penned by its author is not accurate. As we are aware that Mr. K. Juman Yassin, President of the GOA went on record and cleared the air for the entire nation about all financial records of the GOA are “audited”. Never did the gentleman ever mention in that report that he was making any reference to my letter of appeal, but he accepted an interview which was conducted by an accredited sports/media personality of SN, Iva Wharton. That was the ideal approach.

However, Mr. C. Boyce (via KN dated correspondence May 8, “AAG President responds to Pemberton”) choose the route of addressing my letter of appeal and I believe that he has now allowed himself to come to the forefront and I hope he will now be willing to address some further concerns that I believe will be of great interest to the knowledge of the general public and everyone that comes under the umbrella of  T&F.

1. When the AAG’s financial records are produced and supplied to affiliates, are they “audited” financial reports?
There was no mention of the word “audited” in your KN correspondence.

2. Should the public believe that one of those affiliates is the Ministry of Sport headed by Dr. Frank Anthony?

3. How much funding does the AAG receive from the IAAF annually?

Take note Mr. C. Boyce. I am merely trying to understand the system and from your answers on record which of course are expected to be via the dailies. It’s clearing your name and the office of the AAG from Mr. C. Ram’s report. It will also help me tremendously to return to those persons that I defended you and the AAG against and say to them that I was never wrong about my defence. Failing to address those three questions will make you continue to look guilty of unaccountability for AAG funds.

For the record, I did pen a correspondence, ‘Are indenters dumb and stupid’ which also relates to sports accountability but to date there is no sighting of that correspondence in any of the dailies..