NOC needs major shake-up

16.JAN.09

Editor: I have written on numerous occasions on the issue as it relates to the term in office for the Executive of the National Olympic Committee.

The National Olympic Committee is heading for its tenth year in office on a four-year term. This is the number of years you have to do as a parliamentarian or a policeman to be pensionable and secure your gratuity.{{more}} During the year 2008, with pressure from a few concerned persons, the National Olympic Committee said they would hold elections immediately after the Beijing Olympics. It has been almost six months since the Olympics finished and up to this present time there hasn’t been one General Meeting or any form of discussions as it relates to having fresh elections. Maybe they are waiting until the Pan-American Games in India in 2010, because some of its members and their families have never gone to India.

This is a very disgraceful situation and a terrible image of an organization of such high profile status, which from time to time acts as mediator during disputes among their affiliates.

I know there are some members who also mean well and have been working round the clock to keep the National Olympic Committee up to date and to function as one of the most productive National Olympic Committees in the region. For example, Keith Joseph, in my opinion, is one of the three pillars that the committee is being rested on, but there are others who don’t even meet the requirements to be on the National Olympic Committee. You must be an Executive Member of an Olympic Sporting Organization in order to be eligible. Their sole purpose is to see how many countries they could travel to.

If you were following the progress of the National Olympic Committee when it comes to the different games, you would have a clearer picture of what I am writing about. If you can roll up like a ball of twine whenever the Olympic Committee do their do, then you would be able to travel the world free and display the uniforms and gear like when “paul-over mangoes” are in season.

This is real sad. The National Olympic Committee wasn’t willed to a chosen few, so I am calling on all the affiliates to join in solidarity with each other to end this joyride.

Sankara Thomas