WITH only two days having passed since the completion of the Inter Guiana Games (IGG), the National Sports Commission (NSC) has already been asked to answer some questions posed by the Guyana Amateur Basketball Federation (GABF). The questions were contained in an email sent out by the GABF President Nigel Hinds, and referred to the accommodations as well as stipends for the basketball delegation which the NSC had agreed to. The Guyanese were housed at the Windjammer Hotel with 6 males in a room and 3 females in another room,while the Surinamese delegation stayed at the Princess Ramada Hotel,the email stated.
In an exclusive meeting with the Guyana Chronicle, three of the four members on the IGG organizing committee (OC) from the NSC answered those questions. The three members included Lavern Fraser (Chairperson of the OC), Seon Erskine and Gervy Harry,whose names were all copied on the email sent out by Hinds.
The first to speak was Fraser, who outlined irregularities that occurred where protocols were supposed to be followed. According to Fraser “It has always been the policy as it pertains to IGG that it is done in collaboration with NSC and the various parent associations who have the responsibility of preparing their teams for the competition”, she added “The NSC has responsibilities for hosting the competition and handling all logistics that come with it.” Fraser stated that in the protocol,there were specific details relating to how many athletes and officials would be on the team.
Fraser also stated “For Basketball, there were 12 males and females and 4 officials stated in the protocol, GABF submitted a list of 12 male and female players and 9 team officials despite several meetings we would have with them.” She added that while they did not limit the amount of officials, they stated they would fall under the purview of the GABF.
She also mentioned the thought process involved in hosting the Surinamese at the Princess Ramada. “It was our thought that in an effort to ensure that whenever our team has to travel to another country,we will be afforded the best possible accommodation;and in order to guarantee that,we had to extend an olive branch.”
Harry was the next to speak and he opened up by stating “do suh nuh like suh”. “These complaints Mr. Hinds is making he must also remember he owes staff who he agreed to pay for cleaning of the facility for hosting of CBC and DC Jammers that he agreed to by email,” said Harry. He stated that there were no official handing over of equipment and rooms to the NSC, adding that the NSC is still waiting on the kits, manuals and anything else towards the basketball goals maintenance.
The maintenance of the basketball goals was also an issue mentioned in the email by Hinds.
“We the NSC have asked for someone to oversee maintenance of the goals and asked Mr. K.P Thomas, who is the person in charge of maintaining the goals for three weeks,straight to look at the goals and all we got were promises,” said Harry.
Erskine helped to put the issue into context by stating that there were no complaints from any other discipline regarding their accommodation and stipend. “To this point we have only received complaints from the GABF, no other discipline has raised complaints and throughout the entire process the only discipline that has given us issues is basketball,” said Erskine.
This year’s IGG saw 7 disciplines,with 5 being played indoors at the two indoor facilities Guyana has. The organising committee stated that taking everything into consideration, they should be given pass-marks for the handling of the games.
The committee also came to the conclusion that the contracting of coaches and team managers was done on the part of the GABF and just like in the CBC games earlier in July, the GABF should handle the payments. “We paid the game officials and referees as was our responsibility.” The committee also stated that there were no complaints brought that accommodations affected the performance of the team but that Hinds himself stated there were technical faults.
The meeting finished with the committee stating that the NSC is always open to any suggestions on bettering their management and adding “It begs the question why is Nigel Hinds the only one complaining, if the team managers nor coaches have voice any complaints with us?”