Had the planned March 23rd Gambia National Olympic Committee (GNOC) elections happened, the National Sports Council, NSC, would not have participated in it, The Point learned over the weekend.
According to reliable sources, the NSC had politely declined the GNOC invitation to supervise the planned elections, which has now been put on hold by a court order.
But, said our sources, the reasons forwarded by the NSC for boycotting the elections are not all that conciliatory.
Our sources revealed that the NSC had complained about the inclusion of Judo, Softball and Special Olympics associations in the voter list of the GNOC, since these associations are currently deregistered for not meeting the national criteria set for national associations.
The GNOC had said the voter list was prepared in consultation with and with the approval of the International Olympic Committee, IOC, and the stakeholders here.
Secondly, the NSC expressed its unhappiness with the GNOC for drafting and even forwarding their amended constitution to the IOC without consulting the NSC, especially because some associations have alleged that they were not part of the process.
However, the GNOC had said every stakeholder had been invited to the constitutional process, but some associations deliberately boycotted the process, leaving it to those who attended to deliberate on it according to the rules.
It is not clear whether the NSC and GNOC will come to an agreement on the above differences any time before the now stalled election process restarts.
Meanwhile, the minister of Youth and Sports, Alieu K. Jammeh, will today address the media on the issue of the Gambia National Olympic Committee, following a court order putting on hold the GNOC election scheduled for March 23.
The press conference is expected to take place at the Independence Stadium in Bakau by 12.00 noon.
It would be recalled that last Thursday, the High Court in Banjul presided over by Justice E. F. Mbai issued an injunction in favour of three plaintiffs, restraining the holding of elections into the Gambia National Olympic Committee, GNOC, executive bureau planned for 23rd March.
The plaintiffs were Sheriff Jammeh, Jonny Gomez and Alieu Jallow and the defendants were Momodou Dibba, Beatrice Allen and Peter Prom.
