Letter to the Sports Editor….AAG President responds to Pemberton

Dear Mr. Editor,
I write in response to a letter that appeared in your newspaper on 2012-05-06 under the caption “GOA and AAG bosses called on to respond” by one, T. Pemberton.
As President of the Athletics Association of Guyana (AAG), I would normally read letters of all sorts with quite a lot of distorted facts, which seems designed to create disharmony among affiliates.
I am not compelled to respond, but as the writer is calling on both the Presidents of the GOA (Guyana Olympic Association) and AAG to go on records and respond to Mr. Christopher Ram’s article via the dailies, I have chosen to do so.
The writer made specific mention in reference to the KN article captioned “Ram flays GOA over lack of accountability”, and at the same time implicated the AAG.
It was a travesty for the writer to call on the President of the AAG to address Mr. Ram’s plea for financial accountability at the launching of the President’s/Jefford Track & Field Classic III on May 8th at Digicel’s Headquarters, Kingston.
However, for the record, the AAG has been submitting financial statements annually at their Annual General Meetings (AGM) to their affiliates, save, and except, for the year 2011 with the passing of our Treasurer (Mr. Franz Welch) during the month of November, which placed the current Treasurer in a very awkward position to have one completed.
This position was stated at the Annual General Meeting held on 15th January 2012 and the President disclosed the bank balance as at 30th November, 2011.
The Athletics Association of Guyana holds Election for Office Bearers every four years at a special AGM, but it is mandated to hold an Ordinary Annual General Meeting by the IAAF where a financial statement must be submitted.
For whatever reason, Pemberton handpicked the AAG out of all the affiliates of the GOA to call upon and needs to get the facts straight. Mr. Ram did not single-out the AAG as one of the defaulters in the KN article.
I appreciate his call for the Business Community to sponsor athletes and to assist in the development of Track and Field.
Colin Boyce
President AAG