WITH the Guyana Football Federation (GFF) elections set for November 14, ‘Team Unity’ slate headed by prominent Attorney-at-Law Nigel Hughes, yesterday officially launched their campaign to contest against Fruta Conquerors’ President and Businessman Wayne Forde’s ‘Team Integrity’.The slate led by Forde was launched on Thursday last at the Pegasus Hotel and includes 1st Vice President (Ret’d) Brigadier General Bruce Lovell, 2nd Vice President Civil Engineer Rawlston Adams, and 3rd Vice President Attorney Thandi McAllister.
But ‘Team Unity’ took a more grassroots approach to their first public announcement that was held at the tarmac outside the Andrew ‘Six Head’ Lewis boxing gym in Albouystown, Hughes along with running mates Odinga Lumumba, Attorney-at-Law Mark Waldron, Aubrey ‘Shanghai’ Major and Slingerz FC boss Javed Ali, rolled out their plan for football, calling the sport the best tool possible for corporate Guyana to use as a marketing drive for their businesses.
Well known football enthusiasts, clubs, players and members of the community turned out to listen to the learned panel’s plan for the game with a key interest on youth development, inclusivity, transparency and the slate’s proposed mechanism to stomp out corruption in the sport locally.
“Football has a bad reputation in the public eye, particularly when it comes to finances,” Hughes said while addressing the gathering, speaking on how GFF headed by him will re-establish and protect the integrity of the sport.
According to Hughes, “We will have independent audits and ensure that those audits are published to the public for scrutiny. So every association and organisation, even at the national level, must be able to defend financial decisions that were made; that’s one area I intend to deal with.”
“Just like public companies, we propose to have quarterly published unaudited financials so that those people who might have financial propriety about which football has been conducted can check and scrutinize; we will ensure that those associations who are affiliated to us (the GFF), fall into line and are bound by that,” Hughes said.
Meanwhile, notably missing from yesterday’s launch was Troy Cadogan, Marketing Director at Ansa McAl Trading. Hughes was asked if with the inclusion of Cadogan on his slate, if it will give Ansa McAl a distinct advantage over the other corporations to cash in on sponsorship and his answer was “no”.
“It is not up to an individual member, in this case Nigel Hughes cannot decide if Ansa McAl will have a break. We will establish clear steps or criteria for people who would want to sponsor football, we will establish and publish the basis of which we would agree to sponsorship so anybody who wants to get involved in football can get involved because we don’t see this as a two-horse race, but a race that will not only be limited to the people who are in Guyana,” Hughes added.
Lumumba also lamented on the subject, noting that Guyana is among the few countries where corporations either want it all or nothing.
The Parliamentarian under the People’s Progressive Party/ Civic (PPP/C) however said that as early as this week, his team will be reaching out to the business community, to highlight the level of transparency that will exist.
Hughes, the Chairman of the Alliance For Change (AFC) Party, was adamant that under his presidency of the GFF, he will ensure that the Government of Guyana plays its role in the development of the sport; something he said is significantly lacking in Football.
Meanwhile, it was announced by Hughes that he has reached out to Forde, asking for the two slates to join hands and make a collective approach to the governance of football in Guyana.
However, according to Hughes, a favourable response is yet to be given.