WITH the National Sports Commission (NSC) continuing to draw much attention following several reports in the various sections of the media, Director of Sport Neil Kumar finally broke his silence and dispel all allegations that were levelled against him. While Chronicle Sport was unsuccessful in getting a response from Kumar following the reports made; Inews Guyana, an online news network was able to get a response from the long-standing Director of Sport.
According ‘Inews’, Kumar said that while it was being perceived that it was a ‘one-man show’ at the NSC, as Director, he ran an inclusive organisation where everyone was able to run their respective areas without disruption.
Chronicle Sport had reported that “crucial documents” with regard to financial records of the NSC were missing, despite being under Kumar’s care, but according to the Inews report, the long-serving Director of Sport said: “We (the NSC) have a Chairman of the Commission (Conrad Plummer) and an accounts department and all our paper work is in order, you can check that because I have nothing to hide, I don’t deal with that stuff”.
“My office was broken into about two months ago and the police had a full-scale investigation done in here, you can ask Mr (Gervy) Harry,” Kumar said.
It was Chronicle Sport who first reported that millions in sport equipment were missing from the bond at the Cliff Anderson Sports Hall which, according to the facility’s manager, were taken by Kumar for a function at the Palms; something the geriatric home has since distanced itself from.
Kumar said that “as the Director of Sport I have the right to share out the gear and I wasn’t doing it ‘willy-nilly’, so there was a lot of gear left back,”
However, no one knows where or when these ‘sport gear/equipment’ were distributed and to whom, and Kumar never denied that he removed them for personal gain.
Permanent Secretary of the Ministry of Culture, Youth and Sport, Alfred King recently noted that an investigation will be launched into the missing documents.
King, who is responsible for the Commission in the absence of a Minister, made it clear that removal of public documents is a criminal offence and any instance of such will be investigated.

By Rawle Toney