A letter,
purportedly signed by 15 national associations, has been sent to all media
houses and it is against what the writers claimed was an attempt by the
National Sports Council, NSC, to get them to sign a document for the
dissolution of the GNOC.
In the letter, the associations expressed disapproval with a three-point petition allegedly prepared by the National Sports Council calling for the dissolution of the GNOC executive.
According to the letter, the National Sports Council had invited all national associations to a meeting, where the NSC said, as a body, it is not dealing with the current GNOC executive.
The 15 associations further alleged that at that meeting, the NSC presented a three-point petition for national associations to sign calling for the dissolution of the GNOC.
Also in their letter, the 15 national associations reminded the NSC that they have never been invited to any process leading to the drafting of that petition against the GNOC and, therefore, it was not within their remit to sign such a document at the meeting.
Furthermore, the letter went on, we would like to state:
[----“That the current GNOC Executive was elected by the majority, 17 out of 24 of eligible associations and endorsed by the International Olympic Committee, IOC
-----That the activities of the GNOC have been audited for 2012 which has been forwarded to the Olympic Solidarity.
----That the GNOC executive has consulted with the majority of associations\federations to conduct an all-inclusive Annual General Meeting, as result it was agreed to postponed such until March 2014.
The petitioners further went on to state: ‘’We all cherish and appreciate the jealously guarded democracy of our beloved country The Gambia, and we should all appreciate that in any democracy , the majority rules. In this regard, we the undersigned associations\federations cannot associate ourselves with the written petition by your office. We wish to assure you that our associations\federations are committed to the development of sports in The Gambia’’.
Contacted to respond to this letter, the acting executive secretary of the NSC, Abdul Aziz Titao Mendy, denied that his office had asked anyone to sign anything.
‘‘All what we told them was what we had earlier said in press releases, and that is we are not recognizingand are not working with the current GNOC executive and they, the national associations, are free to either go with our line or do what they feel is OK with them,’’ Mendy said.
The Point yesterday called at least two national associations whose name appeared in the letter for confirmation of their participation in drafting the letter, and their officials confirmed they signed the letter.
49th independence anniversary celebrations to be decentralized
The country’s 49th independence anniversary will be celebrated on Tuesday 18th February 2014 on a low-key, as it will be decentralized across the regions in the country, The Point has reliably learnt.
As a result, official sources have informed The Point that those special guests, who were earlier invited to grace the occasion, among them Senegalese Prime Minister Aminata Toure will not be in Banjul for the anniversary.
Earlier on Tuesday, sources confirmed the invitation of Senegalese Prime Minister alongside a high-powered delegation from Senegal including three cabinet ministers.
