Letter to the Sports Editor

Dec 09, 2021 Sports

Dwayne Scott responds to Nicholas Fraser’s letter

Dear Mr. Fraser,

Kaieteur News – Thanks for copying me in your letter to the editor. Whilst it may not have been intended for a response, I think it is fair that I should do so to clear the air of the governance concerns.
Thank you also for the history lessons. I greatly appreciate this incitement on the years of failure GASA has endured. I guess you can appreciate that for all these years it would be a mountainous task for anyone to fix these in less than one year. Nonetheless, I took on this role and with it the challenges.
For the benefit of all, I wish to clear the air on some important work done during my first year. This is work done by the team of council members, the technical committee and council.
We table a modified version of the by-laws alongside a code of conduct. This was done with the assistance of the UANA President and FINA VP. This could not have been adopted except by through an extraordinary meeting. The plan is to have this done in the New Year.
We have reached out to the Olympic association on a few issues. These include but are not limited to the assistance with an impasse that involves a coach and a club and with the assistance for guidance in setting up a disciplinary committee. These too were not fully achieved due to time constraints.
We drafted and presented a youth development plan that includes 19 of our most promising athletes. This received the blessing of UANA, CONSANAT and the GOA. This plan was also shared with the media on numerous occasions.
We have partnered with the Ministry of Sports to launch a sports academy and tabled a Plan that was deemed to be too advanced for the academy. This plan was done with the assistance of a FINA accredited coach based at the Florida development facility.
We have revisited the selection policy for national athletes, to present a level playing field.
We have had athletes participating in all the recent FINA and IOC accredited events throughout this period.
We continue to make friends, break down barriers and push on with the serious work of GASA in spite of the pandemic. This is testament to the fact that we continue to have our monthly council meetings regardless of the circumstances.
For the benefit of all I have attached a few of the mentioned documents for clarity.
On the issue of the OASP fund, GASA as a not for profit organization and only gets funds through club affiliation, annual registration and from fundraisers. Any other funding comes from FINA through clinics allotments or with the OASP fund. It must be known that the OASP funds can only be used for special projects. Our Project submissions were for the Youth development programme and Facility upgrade. I would like to make it clear that in the completion of the request, we have only confirmed policies that exist and for this we had to provide evidence. On the accountability and governance side we have been specifically asked to provide a report for the use of 2021 funds which is due on the 31st December, 2021. I wish to make it clear that GASA received no OASP funds in 2021.
I do hope this helps in clearing the misconceptions regarding GASA activities, applications and funding.
Thanks to all for affording me the space.
Yours in Sport.
Dwayne Scott
President – GASA

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