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The untold truth
By Edison Jefford
Infallible rhetoric should not be allowed to mask the Kashif and Shanghai Organisation’s blatant ignorance of the tenets of an undated Memorandum of Understanding with the now waning Mackenzie Sports Club (MSC).
Another section of the print media quoted Kashif Muhammad at the opening ceremony of the annual football tournament as indicating that the final was moved out of the Linden community to send a message for betterment.
“What we are seeking to do is to send a message that this community that has contributed so much to the development of Guyana deserves better. Indeed, we demand better,” Muhammad reportedly stated in Linden.
If indeed a message is to be sent, it will die before it reaches its destination because of the messengers’ involvement with the recipients; the organisation in question receives more than adequate support from stakeholders.
The fact that the Kashif and Shanghai tournament gets Government and corporate support cannot be considered a problem but the organisation has obviously and blatantly ignored its documented commitment to the MSC.
At a recent press conference, MSC Secretary, Rawle Blair told the media that the Kashif and Shanghai establishment committed to securing funding for the club’s rehabilitation project that is now shelved owing to inactivity.
In an undated Memorandum of Understanding, the role of the organisation in relation to the club was clearly outlined but the group has not taken a major step in the direction of their commitment and that is worrisome.
“The Kashif and Shanghai Organisation will secure such finances [for the rehabilitation project] through the Government of Guyana, Private Sector and fund raising initiatives,” point 3.2 of the agreement specified.
It should be made clear that the organisation should not have an obligation to develop the facilities of their tournament. That is the Government’s responsibility. However, they have an agreed ambassadorial role.
The stalling of the MSC project plan at Central Housing is not an excuse for the obvious lethargic approach of the Kashif and Shanghai Organisation in attempting to procure funding for the club’s rehabilitation project.
Blair had said that the assignment was given to the organisation because of their apparent “knock for sponsorship” but so far, all the MSC has gotten in return is information of oral commitments from intended stakeholders.
The Linden Economic Advancement Programme (LEAP) had verbally committed $15M toward the project but whether that is still a reality may be in question since the venue’s management received no further word.
The last time LEAP was approached, the management of the MSC said they were told in no uncertain terms that the fiscal year has ended. This revelation puts in question whether or not the $15M disbursement will be made.
The MSC rehabilitation project is ideal for LEAP’s intervention. It is more ideal than the Kashif and Shanghai football tournament that received in excess of $3M from LEAP for the staging of the 2008 competition.
Kashif and Shanghai reserves the right to take their football wherever they want but one must ask if they are serious about their mandated role of procuring the necessary funds for the MSC rehabilitation project.
The date of the Memorandum of Understanding is important because it would have given an indication of how much time was wasted and feet dragged. Kashif and Shanghai seem more serious about funding for their tournament.
The revelation that because MSC is rundown the final was moved cannot hold water in a month of Sundays. It is the same MSC that hosted 18 other Kashif and Shanghai finals but there seem to be an untold truth.
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