Letter to the Sports Editor…How dare you challenge FIFA Mr. Lumumba!

Jan 10, 2013 Sports

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Dear Editor,
President of the Alpha United Football Club, Odinga Lumumba, has once again stepped out of his parameters by writing that he is challenging FIFA to ensure resolution in the Guyana situation as published in the Kaieteur News Sports pages of Wednesday January 9, 2013.
Yet again, an individual is trying to pretend that he is without blame. It is this same Odinga Lumumba that was part and parcel of filing the injunction against the Guyana Football Federation; it is this same Odinga Lumumba that held several meetings with the Georgetown Football Association Executive members and planned to shut football.
When he could not get his way by trying to bully the GFA boys, he ran back into the fold of the GFF and threatened to bring the GFA down.
Wasn’t it you, Lumumba, who would have been charged for assaulting a female on elections day?  Yet you try to pretend as if you are above reproach. You are certainly not. Your aim to get to the Presidency of the GFF will never see the light of day because you are just not interested in seeing progress of this sport that you have been using for your own personal gains over the years.
Prior to taking over Alpha United from Mr. Maurice Cato, you tried the same trick at Camptown FC but your dark maneuverings did not last for more than a week when you jumped ship and went to Alpha.
FIFA would have been notified and have been following and studying the Guyana situation ever since the first and second injunctions were filed against the GFF, so to even believe that it was as a result of your letter to that august body that would have warranted them coming, is hogwash.
You are surely out of place to tell or even suggest to the World Body that one day is not enough for them to do what they came to do. The high powered team which includes distinguished Lawyers from the FIFA Legal Department and CONCACAF are learned enough to come up with proper recommendations to bring this unfortunate situation to an end for the good of the game.
It is people like yourself that have continually sought to bring the game into disrepute and tarnish its image; but you will not succeed because the sport is much bigger than you.
You’ve highlighted injustices that would have been meted out by the GFF under Colin Klass to the GFA and others over one decade— during Klass’s 20-year reign at the helm and FIFA’s perceived lack of action whenever you wrote that body and others. Be reminded that you are not and will never be an affiliate of FIFA, CONCACAF or the CFU so that these entities do not have a right to respond to any of your writings.
You’ve pointed out the fact that the GFF would not have been able to get its Goal Project going and that is so but if you have been following the news you would have been informed on the current status of the Goal Project and the way forward. If you were not allowing your own ego to cloud your mind you would have also been informed that it is not USD $500,000 that has been allocated to this project, it is USD $400,000; just check the FIFA website and you’ll be informed.
Your call for statements to be taken from various entities is quite well and good but you need to make similar suggestions on the way this country of ours is being governed and you being a part of the administration.
The fact that you have suggested that you will continue your petition to form a parallel entity to the GFF despite being advised by FIFA to stay clear of such a move, tells the kind of individual you are; that you are bent on being destructive at all costs.
No resolution would be to your liking if it does not go the way you want; you have been one of the main architects in this destabilizing process and must feel the full hands of FIFA for that.
Yes, termination of the GFF Executive would be to your liking, but despite the challenges, this same GFF Executive has been responsible for charting a historical path for the game; like it or not, no one can erase that.
All the GFF affiliates must know that whilst they are calling on the GFF to provide all that they require, they themselves must also put their houses in order. When we point a finger at someone else, four is pointing back at us; be reminded of that.
FIFA has been and is up to date with audited Financial Statements of the Guyana Football Federation and that’s why they have been able to survive with the FIFA grant and little or no support from the Government that you are an integral part of, Mr. Lumumba. We all make a big squabble of the USD $250,000 the GFF receives on a yearly basis, are you aware of the level of expenses the GFF face on a yearly basis?
What’s the status of Alpha United’s Finances? Can you produce audited financial statements for the time you have been at the helm? If you are honest, tell this nation about the monthly support you have received under the previous President of this nation; tell us about the support that you have been receiving for Alpha United from your Trinidadian source among others.
You have been ranting for quite a while without persons following you up but it won’t continue. You need to be honest with yourself and back off. Allow honest and committed people to chart the way forward for the game and the youths of this nation.
The only peace football would have is for you, Mr. Odinga Lumumba, to come out of the sport totally.
For the Game. For the World.
Christopher Thomas

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