Munroe responds to KN’s article

Jun 26, 2009 Sports

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Refutes naming team

By Edison Jefford

General Secretary of the Guyana Table Tennis Association (GTTA), Godfrey Munroe has refuted naming the national senior team in a June 18 interview with Kaieteur News in a letter dated June 26, 2009.
“Let me make [it] pellucidly clear that at no point in time [have] I ever in any capacity whatsoever named/given outlined or suggested to Mr. Jefford in a telephone conversation/interview or otherwise the selected teams, likely candidates or anything alluding to team selection,” Munroe said in a statement to this newspaper.
He further indicated that his telephone interview with this writer only lasted 45 seconds in which I enquired about the naming of the squad in Stabroek News, the “teams’ chances, preparations, the GTTA approach [and] cost etc.”
Can I address all those questions and receive answers in 45 seconds? Note too that Munroe did not say I enquired about a squad; he said I enquired about a “team”. Can I enquire about a team if I am not in possession of the team?
“He then sought to clarify if 1974 was the last time Guyana won a team title [and] I told him I think so, but was not sure and that he should clarify with Mike Baptiste,” Munroe added. Again I ask, can I take notes and enquire about all those things in 45 seconds?
“On Saturday after the completion of the training sessions with the national squad at approximately 8:30 pm, [Donald] Duff approached me to query whether the GTTA had named a team and who were the members. My response was that I, as Secretary, or the GTTA had not named a team and that the article by Jefford was misleading [and] untruthful and I wanted to be on record to correct same”. This was published in Stabroek News of 22nd June under the headline “GTTA’s Munroe Slams Kaieteur News Article.” Munroe continued.
The GTTA General Secretary is aware of the fact that he has an exceptional professional relationship with the Kaieteur News and would often contact this entity about table tennis matters.
If Munroe had a problem with a particular news item, why did he decide to express his reservations in the Stabroek News, leaving out this newspaper and all the other media entities?
“On Sunday [June 21], I saw Jefford who approached me in passing. I enquired of him as to why would he proceed to name a squad and without my inputs and to even insinuate same and said it was not fair and that I have refuted his lies.
His response was that twist or turn it that’s his team or the team and he does not give a f&$#, he can represent his story”, he said in the statement.
I was compelled to author a story captioned “An Act of Deceit” that appeared on Tuesday following the Stabroek News article that was published the day before in which Munroe claimed that he did not give me the teams.
I want to make it clear that if I wanted to select a team that, in my opinion, would be the best representative team, I would have done so but I would have also made it clear that it is my opinion. I would not have attributed that to anyone.
The General Secretary correctly said that I saw him in passing on Sunday but the content of our conversation is inaccurate. I noticed Munroe at a Night Club Sunday night and I took the opportunity to ask him two things.
I asked Munroe if he was aware that the Caribbean Games was cancelled and he said yes. I had asked him that because he had previously encouraged me to travel internationally with local table tennis teams.
The cancellation of the Caribbean Games had opened the opportunity for me to travel to the Caribbean Table Tennis Championships with the senior team because the two dates were previously contrasting.
I told Munroe that and asked him to make reservations for me to travel with the national team to French Guiana.
He then told me that he saw that I published the team and said he doesn’t know who else they are going to send.
“Jefford’s apparent attempt to appear like Stabroek News got the squad and he got the team (he seems to have a penchant for scoops) is totally out of place. Jefford has even accosted national player, Idi Lewis after Lewis was interviewed by Duff”, Munroe held.
Lewis and Paul David had spoken to me at an informal meeting at a sports bar about an interview they would like me to do. I agreed and subsequently told Lewis to give David my mobile number so we could tie up arrangements for the interview.
Afterwards, I noticed that Lewis had gone to Stabroek News instead, without contacting me on our previous arrangement.
I did not “accost” Lewis as Munroe claimed; our brief parley when I saw him was very funny in fact.
He was laughing and I was laughing because I had told him that his interview here does not matter anymore.
The statement in the Stabroek News did not bear the signature of Munroe; it just ended “Yours faithfully,” however, the content of that statement and the account issued to this newspaper have similar content.
“…if Jefford thinks it’s a willy-nilly process he should acquaint himself more with table tennis matters if he wants to accurately report on the discipline,” Munroe believes.
The GTTA had nominated me two years in a row, 2007 and 2008, for Sports Journalist of the Year but now I have to acquaint myself with table tennis matters. Does the GTTA arrive at such nominations in a willy-nilly manner? If my work with table tennis wasn’t exceptional would the GTTA have nominated me?
In the penultimate paragraph of his statement, Munroe urged other sport administrators to “come forward and speak out about” my “unprofessional, corrupt practices as a journalist”.
Our letter pages are always open to such responses.
Kaieteur News stands by its story that we were given the national senior table tennis team that is expected to compete in the Caribbean Championships in French Guiana.

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