The ‘Bogus’ Congress

The Gambia Sports Journalist Association recently embarked on a bogus congress and there was no real or genuine change of baton.
To many outsiders, it might seem that things have been going on smoothly but the so-called sports journalist leaders knew that the truth has been broken under their feet.  Yes, a new executive is being ushered in but I want to tell the whole world that they were wrongly elected and cannot be recognised.  It was a completely ready-made congress, and was conducted just to satisfy selfish desires.

Knowing that some of the brains were performing national duties in Abidjan, Ivory Coast, where an Under-17 Peace tournament was being hosted, the then President Namory Trawally backtracked the agreed date of August 24 just to suit his and his comrades’ taste.
The voters were weak and have little understanding of their activities, and moreover, existing members favoured each other and so they got into a congress and maintained their positions. I have no personal problem with anyone but in view of the fact that the regime has failed to live up to expectation in the past years, we were expecting a change for the better. 

We know who is who in Gambian sports journalism and so we cannot have incompetence reign over us.  The maslah syndrome which has slaughtered Gambian sports, leaving many to reflect back with bitter regret will not be condoned by us anymore.  Gambian sports administrators in the past chose to abandon things for others simply because they felt bad about certain rulings or actions, and later looked back with regret and I don’t want to be one of those.

It was a pure cowardly congress and associating with this so-called executive will translate into associating with a bunch of loose canons. 
Who will trust an executive committee that claimed to be accountable to the general body only during congresses. No report of activities, no calendar of activities and no financial update. Where is the competency and transparency?

It’s surprising to note that those occupying the helm of leadership in the association are those who hardly attend sports gathering. They are people who manifested their “no interest” attitude to sports and yet, want to lead the sports journalists.
As a producer who works on a daily sports programme targeting a minimum of five stories on a well structured half-an-hour sports show, I believe I am one of the sports journalist.

In our one-to-one discussions, executive members had always maintained that our main constraint as an association is lack of competent secretaries. They claimed the secretaries cannot write simple reports and are very weak in correspondence. So how can we achieve progress if the same faces are maintained in a regime that is simply characterised by backwardness. The current executive is far from being legitimate and until a fresh congress is conducted there exists no legally elected executive committee.