Reply to article “Points for the GABA President to ponder”

Jan 25, 2009 Sports

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Dear Editor,
The Guyana Amateur Boxing Association (GABA) is a voluntary non-profit organisation that was established over thirty years ago. Its purpose is to promote and train amateur boxers, referees/judges, coaches and officials for the benefit of having an amateur boxing team that can participate and represent the country at local & international events.
Since most of its members and boxing gyms associated with the GABA find it extremely difficult to pay their annual affiliation dues to the association, there is never sufficient finances in its bank account to carry on the proposed schedule list of activities.
With this in mind, the association depends heavily on the assistance of the Ministry of Culture, Youth and Sports, donations from the Private Sector and corporate citizens who show an interest in the development of amateur boxing in this country. For this reason alone, I have pondered and decided that I must reply to Mr. K. Campbell article “Points for the GABA President to ponder”.
I must first clearly state that this association has nothing to hide since none of the Executives of GABA benefits personally from their involvement with the association and amateur boxing.
Mr. Campbell worked with me for a number of years and therefore understood my strong management skills. I must thank him for inviting me to be a part of GABA and then putting forward a nomination on my behalf to be the President, even though I had explained to him that I was not interested since I knew nothing about the administration of amateur boxing.
However, it was Vice-Presidents Mr. Rudolph Torrington and Mr. Keith French who persuaded me to accept the position since they explained that amateur boxing was then a dying sport and there was no hope for the association unless there was an interjection of good and proper administration.
After I became the President of GABA, Mr. Campbell (who was the self appointed secretary of the Association in 2006) was the first to be relived of his appointed duties by a vote of no confidence from 99% of the associated boxing gyms with only Mr. Lennox Daniels voting in favour of him. Since his exit, he has never returned any documents belonging to the association that were in his possession when he was Secretary.
Using his phrase “It is better to remain quiet and be thought a fool than to open your mouth and remove any doubt”. Mr. K. Campbell had the privilege of being an insurance agent of ALICO under my guidance. He was given the opportunity to be associated with some of the best sales agents in the Caribbean but he did not achieve any success as a salesman.
It was only because of his athletic ability that he was kept on to give the Khan’s agency a moral boost when there was athletic sports among the Insurance companies. I even allowed him to use my office to blow his trumpet, even though the noise that he made with his instrument was disgusting and staff complained bitterly.
I now ask myself, what I have done for the development of amateur boxing since I took over as the President of the association. When I took over in 2006, the association had no money in its bank account, I ensured that an account was opened with the proper authorized signatures and from there the Executives ensured that there was a legal paper trail for all monies received and spent by the association.
Even though I heard that there were previous records held by the then Secretary and Treasurer, I never saw it. When I took over as President of GABA, the association had an outdated letterhead which had to be modified.
These old letterheads were also distributed to all and sundry who thought they had the authority to write and address issues on behalf of the Association
. Therefore, for security reasons the letterhead was recreated and all letters had to be seen by the Executives.
I then organized a Referees/Judges training course using an International Referee/Judge from Trinidad and Tobago for over 35 (thirty five) Coaches, Referees and Judges who were associated with the association.
Since the association never had a home to call its own, it is currently in the process of trying to build a home for amateur boxing.
The office is presently located at the Guyana Olympic Association but this location is not always available so I sometimes had cause to use my home to host some meetings.
I am not aware that the various committees of the association were ever disbanded since it was the disciplinary Committee that took action against Mr. Campbell and his comrades.  I also ensured that there are at least six domestic tournaments every year which allowed the young athletes to showcase their talents.
Previously whenever tournaments were held, the boxers only received promises but I ensured that all winners now receive a prize as recognition for their performances.
I also ensured that all senior Coaches, Referees and Judges had some international exposure. I am sure that this is the only period in amateur boxing that a wide cross section of officials had the opportunity to participate in overseas international tournaments and training programmes.
Six bicycles were provided for the young athletes who went into training in preparation for participating in the Commonwealth Youth Games.
In 2006, the association had a substandard boxing ring which was unsuitable for carrying on amateur boxing. This ring was refurbished and the association can now boast that it has the best boxing ring in the country since it now measures up to international standards.
The GABA Academy was established at the National Gymnasium and it can also boast that it has the only permanent outdoor boxing ring in the Caribbean. The Association received boxing equipment from various donors and these were passed on to the Gyms.
The association also had its first Awards Ceremony for amateur boxing in 2007 in which over $500,000.00 (five hundred thousand dollars) was spent to cater for this event.
This money was solicited from various donors by yours truly since the association never had this amount of money available.
In 2006, the then appointed Secretary (Mr. Keith Campbell), with the association’s Selection Committee had chosen Mr. Sebert Blake to participate in a training programme in Colombia on its behalf.
This decision was overruled by the Executives who thought that in the best interest of the association, the National Coach (Mr. Carl Franklyn who was appointed by the board and who gave voluntarily to the association his time, efforts and energy on a full time basis), would have been a better nominee to send on the training course.
His knowledge received from the training course was utilized for the development of all of the gyms in Guyana. Where as, Mr. Blake who is a full time employee of GPL, could not have had the time to visit all of the gyms to impart the knowledge acquired. Also sending him on courses would not have benefited the association since he pays attention only to his Forgotten Youth Foundation Gym.
Mr. Evan Parris is understandably the best and most experienced amateur boxing coach who through loyalty and dedication has trained the entire present crop of coaches spoken about by Mr. Campbell. He is now one of the Association’s National Coaches and assists in the training of all amateur boxers who visit the Academy at the National Gymnasium.
It was explained to Mr. Daniels that he needed to make a choice since he could not represent amateur boxing if he was actively participating in the professional arena.
For financial accountability, I would appreciate if Mr. Campbell can make contact with Mr. Dexter Patterson who was the Treasurer during the period stated. Mr. Patterson never provided any updated records of the association’s financial status even though numerous requests were made by the executives of the association and our External Auditors.
However, for the fundraising event that was held at the Stabroek Market, I have an un-audited report which shows that the association raised approximately $16,000 (sixteen thousand dollars).
This money was given to the Treasurer (Mr. Dexter Patterson) at the end of the event but was subsequently used to make payments for transportation to move the boxing ring to and from the National Gymnasium and also to provide refreshments and transportation for members of the Republican Gym who assisted in the setting up of the ring at the Stabroek market.
For the fundraising event at the Harpy Eagle Boxing Gym, the association grossed $117,000 and netted $51,990.  The net sum was used to assist Ms. Romona Agard (One of the association’s Senior Referee/Judge) to participate in the 2007 Pan American Box Off and the Amateur Boxing Continental Referee/Judges examination. The cost for her airline ticket to Trinidad and Tobago was $62,216 and I paid the difference (see attached for a copy of the financial statement).
It must be stated that Ms. Agard has now joined the elite in the Caribbean and is now the only qualified Continental Referee/ Judge in Guyana. Mr. Patterson and Mr. Campbell also did not pay their passage to Trinidad when they did this examination as the association gave them sponsorship letters to seek assistance to participate in the examination.
GT&T responded favourably to Mr. Patterson’s request, but Mr. Campbell who could not solicit funds on time, collaborated with the Treasurer (Mr. Patterson) to utilize GABA petty funds (without the President’s approval) to pay his passage to Trinidad. I am not certain if
these funds were ever repaid to the association. What I am certain about is that these two honourable, distinguished academic referees both failed the examination. What stinks?
It must be clearly stated that a motorcycle was never donated to the association, but was given as a gift to the National Coach (Mr. Carl Franklyn) to assist him with the development of amateur boxing in Guyana (Please see attached for a copy of letter).  Also please find attached a copy of the statement of account submitted by Vice-President Mr. Rudolph Torrington on the CABA Championship held in Trinidad & Tobago in June of 2006.
I do hope that Mr. Campbell gets a copy and can do the mathematics since he is a firm believer in democracy, transparency and accountability. It also accounts for the money that was collected from the Ministry of Culture Youth and Sports.
Lastly, I must ask why Mr. Campbell went so far back when discussing GABA amateur boxing medals collection.  Let’s just go ten years before I took office in 2006 to find out what went on in amateur boxing in our country.
Mr. Clive Atwell won a bronze medal at the Pan American Games under the guidance of our present National Coaches. He went into intense training in 2006 after I saw that he had potential to become a very good amateur boxer.
After winning the Bronze medal at the Pan American Games in Brazil, I then approached the Chief Executive Officer of the National Milling Company and made a request for him to be employed as a trainee technician even though he had no academic qualification.  This Company then gave full sponsorship, paying all his expenses when he participated at the World Championship in Chicago, U.S.A. I now hope that he continues in this path and not be persuaded by individuals who do not have his interest at heart since I think amateur boxing has enabled him to become a better person.
As President, consideration was also given to coaches Blake and Terrence Poole to travel with the team to the World Championship even though they were not invited. It was also because of the current association’s integrity that the boxers and coaches were able to receive American Visitors Visa to participate in this World Championship.
Mr. Blake had funding for his airline ticket up to New York and the association had to find the funds for his passage from New York to Chicago. I then had to use my influence to find accommodation for this coach and even assisted him in obtaining food vouchers when he was in Chicago. Overall, the international experiences received by the GABA teams since I took office are too numerous to mention.
I need not say more other than in future, I will only be discussing the development of amateur boxing and therefore will only engage individuals whose intention are to have a positive input towards the development of this sport.
Regards,
Mr. Affeeze Khan
President GABA

Editor’s note,
Following the letter referred in this missive by Mr. Khan from Mr. K. Campbell, we had several conversations and I granted Mr. Khan the option to respond since he informed that several points were erroneous.
Mr. Khan has supported his arguments with relevant documents, which I have been privy to see.  As Editor I am happy with his openness in trying to set the record straight.
Kaieteur Sport has the responsibility to highlight pertinent issues relating to sports and it is our hope that when we highlight the bad and the good, efforts will be made to correct the flaws while commendation must be the order of the day for the good aspects.
Petty differences, we will do our utmost to not permit in this daily.
We make every effort to be balanced and will give all a voice, but we will not allow this newspaper to be used for personal attacks and undue criticisms. Our aim is to report the facts and to aid in every possible way the development and proper administration of local sports.
With this said, in giving Mr. Khan his say we would love to close this chapter and only deal with the real pertinent issues in relation to the development of amateur boxing.

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