Is the Orangestein land the GFF’s?

Apr 21, 2013 Sports

By Rawle Welch
The damning 113-page report presented by Head of CONCACAF’s integrity committee, Sir David Simmons to the CONCACAF Ordinary Congress in Panama of Friday that revealed the underhanded dealings and fraud committed by former FIFA vice-president and CONCACAF president Jack Warner, in his handling of the affairs of the regional football body only served to confirm the suspicions of many within the Caribbean and local football fraternities.
Simmons, a former Barbados chief justice, disclosed that Warner and Chuck Blazer, former general secretary of CONCACAF, “were fraudulent in their management” of the Confederation’s activities and used their offices for personal gain and many here in Guyana should be pleading with CONCACAF President Jeffrey Webb to have Simmons, a former Barbados Chief Justice come to Guyana to conduct a similar probe into what transpired during the reign of the previous executive.
According to Simmons, “this is a sad and sorry tale in the life of CONCACAF, a tale of abuse and position of power when persons who assisted in bringing the organisation profitability, enriched themselves at the expense of their own organisation. There are lessons to be learnt when you read through the 113 page report: Read, mark, learn and inwardly digest the ramifications of the tragic experiences that made the investigation a historic necessity.”
Perhaps, the time is right for us to follow the path of CONCACAF and initiate an investigation into the Mexico Agreement and other suspicious dealings which has become a crucial requirement.
Webb said that based on the report, a task force will be formed to look into it further, but shouldn’t that be extended to Guyana to see if there was any similar acts of financial misconduct.
Apart from the Mexico fiasco, disclosures should be made about who rightfully owns the title to the land at Orangestein, East Bank Essequibo where the long-awaited GOAL Project is anticipated to be built.
As the Simmons report indicated, large sums of CONCACAF funds was expended on the Joao Havelange Centre of Excellence on lands privately owned by Warner and which was reported to be no longer an asset of the governing body and “ legal options are being looked at regarding the Centre.”
The question being asked is whether or not Guyana’s GOAL Project could suffer the same fate and it would be instructive for the new President Christopher Matthias to thoroughly investigate who the true owner of the land is, before we have to explore ‘legal options’ to determine the rightful owner on completion.
As all affiliates at the Congress were advised to do by Simmons, Matthias must keep in mind the suggestion of the learned gentleman which is to, “read, mark, learn and inwardly digest the ramifications of the tragic experiences.
Former President Franklin Wilson on his return from a high level Meeting in Zurich, Switzerland last month said, “from the initial US$400,000 that was allocated for the Goal Project I think we have about US$270,000 remaining and of course that will be merged with the US$500,000 based on discussion we had with FIFA in Zurich.”
A lot of money has already been wasted and the new management will have to be extremely prudent with what is left to complete the Project which FIFA sees as an integral component to its Development Strategy.
Matthias’ first formal press briefing should be an interesting one when he returns.

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Is the Orangestein land the GFF’s?

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