Hutson admits AAG has no development plan

Jan 20, 2017 Sports

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By Edison Jefford
Incumbent President of the Athletics Association of Guyana (AAG), Aubrey Hutson admitted on

the nationally televised programme, Sports Magazine, on the National Communications Network (NCN), that the association does not have a development plan.
Host of the live television programme, Edwin Seeraj, grilled Hutson Wednesday night on several issues, including whether he has a manifesto that includes a four-year programme. Hutson stated that such a document does not exist because he did not campaign for the post.
The response prompted Seeraj to inquire that if the association has plans over the next four years, then those must be documented. Hutson’s response was “for the next four years we want to move athletics forward”. The AAG will hold its AGM and Elections on Sunday.
Still not satisfied with that response, and obviously using his experience as a seasoned journalist, Seeraj again asked the question, this time he requested some “objectives of where you want to be at the end of 2020,” which is an Olympic year in Tokyo, Japan.
Hutson’s response was that athletics is an individual sport, and as such planning must include the athlete. Seeraj said there must be “some sort of manifesto on what you will do”.
But based on the responses given, it was clear that Hutson never operated with any development plan, which gives further insight into why the association was unable to access funding from a $41.3 million grant that the Guyana Olympic Association (GOA) received last year for Olympic and Pan Am training.
As Kaieteur Sport reported last week, only $3,968,000 of that grant was expended. When asked how the association allowed that to happen on national television, Hutson said that they will now examine the GOA financial statement to see if the AAG is getting their “fair share”.
Remaining on that subject of a plan to develop the sport, the evidently well-researched Seeraj then asked Hutson about the Master Plan the AAG said it was producing in 2013, which was the year Hutson became President of the association.
Hutson said that the Committee that produced the plan was overambitious after it laid out a High Performance Centre for every region. Since 2013 nothing was heard of the plan, which questions whether the association had any vision for the sport in the first place.
Seeraj then asked if The Kids Athletics Programme that is another development plan, “is up and running” since an announcement in January 2015. Hutson informed that the programme has not been up and running, but the kits for the programme are in Guyana.
He said that there are two instructors. “The issue is the amount of hands on deck. We need more people on board. The amount of people who are willing to serve the sport are not many,” Huston said.
Still he believes the sport is “advancing”. He listed Guyana’s Inter-Guiana Games performance against Suriname after French Guiana pulled out and the South American Youth Championships team showing last year as successes.
Hutson informed that the GOA has asked for their development plan following their elections in December. Hutson had nominated K. A Juman Yassin for a sixth consecutive four-year term, as President of the Olympics body.
Seeraj asked Hutson if there were any promises for the association’s vote. Hutson said there were no promises, but he nominated Yassin based on what he believes that he is the “only person to do the job”. The AAG is the most important affiliate of the GOA, since it is the only association that trumps up qualified athletes for the Olympic Games.
Based on that request, Hutson told Seeraj that the association has until this month end to submit a development plan. Among the other issues raised, included what is the International Association of Athletic Federations (IAAF) grant to the AAG, which Hutson revealed is US$15,000 annually and a new subsistence.
Hutson also disclosed on the programme broadcasted live that beginning last year the association began to receive a US$25,000 grant as an Olympic Dividend. “The IAAF felt that GOA was not doing enough for athletics,” Hutson informed.
Hutson went on to quip that if Yassin hears about the US$25,000 grant, he “won’t get any money now”. He told Seeraj that the GOA is “not as helpful as you think,” which seem to contradict his earlier worry of disclosing the grants the association receives.
Seeraj then asked Hutson why he moved the AAG Office to Alberttown, which is where he has his personal office. Hutson said that was done after long-serving Secretary Shanomae Blackmore died and a suitable replacement could not be found.
The AAG Office was located at the GOA Headquarters in Kingston, which usually houses all the other Olympic sport disciplines. Hutson stated that the convenience of doing his work and that of the AAG was another reason he moved the sport’s office.
“They (AAG) pay no rent, no telephone; it is costing me my money,” Hutson said adding that the association’s council asked that the office for the sport remain at his personal office because “they have their own boardroom”.

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