50th Carifta Games fiasco

The Guyana contingent to the 50th Junior Carifta Games, held in Nassau, The Bahamas from 7th to 10th April, returned home last Thursday evening basking in the glow of their fifth place finish, to a rousing welcome of drumming, confetti and bouquets of flowers. The young ambassadors made us all proud with their collection of hardware – three gold, two silver and three bronze medals – at the annual event, which was dominated by the traditional track and field powerhouse of the Caribbean, Jamaica (78 medals, 40 gold), for the 37th consecutive occasion, followed by the hosts (46, 10), Trinidad and Tobago (31, 9) and St Kitts (9,3). However, the administrative ineptitude displayed by the Athletics Association of Guyana (AAG) in the organisation of the team’s travel arrangements, unfortunately, has cast a shadow over the athletes’ outstanding performances.

The AAG hosted three qualifying meets – two in February and one in early March – at the National Track and Field Centre at Leonora, where eight athletes met the high standards set for team selection. However, the AAG did not announce the names of the 18 athletes and five officials chosen for the Carifta Games until the third week in March. On 3rd April, AAG President Aubrey Hutson, in an interview with this newspaper, stated that the athletics body was awaiting the issuance of visas for 11 members of the team, which had been applied for that very day. (The quickest route to The Bahamas is via Miami, which necessitates a US visa). He said he was hoping for an expeditious granting of the visas, since airline seats were no longer available on alternate routes to facilitate a timely arrival for the event. Hutson noted that the AAG was in a position to pay for the tickets immediately, as it had received $3 million from the Guyana Olympic Association (GOA) the previous week.

This is utterly unacceptable. That Hutson could make those pronouncements with the lack of any shame speaks volumes. Firstly, qualifiers should have been held much earlier in order to allow the selected athletes to concentrate on training for their individual events. Secondly, it is very well known that the issuance of a US visa is a consideration, not a given. Applications should have been made by early March, the latest. Thirdly, it is also common knowledge that there is a process by which US visas are issued; appointments have to be made, passports handed in and then collected later. Although there are allowances made for emergencies, a sports team travelling to an annual event hardly qualifies as one. More likely than

not, if US transit visas were applied for on 3rd April, Hutson would have known that very day if they were going to be issued based on whether the athletes’ passports were kept or returned to them. The fact is that Hutson was being disingenuous, but no one called him out.

The seven athletes who were holders of US visas, and one official, departed on Thursday, 6th April, via the Miami route. The rest of the team remained in Guyana, hoping to depart on Good Friday, via another flight pathway through the Caribbean, with Antigua and Jamaica being bandied around as possible links to a special charter to Nassau. As the air of uncertainty morphed into one of panic and desperation, the GOA was forced to get involved in the calamity created by the inept AAG. Thanks to the GOA’s intervention, those team members eventually departed Guyana on Saturday morning on a chartered flight to Cuba. There, however, in the absence of the requisite departure documentation, they were further delayed, finally arriving in Nassau at 11 am on another chartered flight, on the very day that competition commenced.

On 10th April, the GOA issued an extremely disturbing statement which spelt out the depth of the bungling of the travel arrangements by the AAG administration, which read in part “... Mr Hutson, President AAG in his report on the AAG activities [said] that all systems were in place for Guyana’s athletics teams participation at the Games… These notions were further corroborated by statements attributed to Mr Hutson in the press which indicated the AAG received all the required funds amounting to the $9 million [$3 million – GOA, $3 million – NSC, $3 million – private donors] budget required to cover all of the related expenditure.”

After hearing negative reports regarding the athletes’ travel, the GOA said it reached out to Hutson as well as other members of the AAG requesting a meeting. No one responded. At this stage the Ministry of Culture, Youth and Sports (MCYS) and the GOA assumed full responsibility for the flight arrangements of the local contingent who did not have US visas. Those returning to Guyana (one member is based in Jamaica, while another is at school in the USA) were initially scheduled to depart The Bahamas on Tuesday, 11th April, via special charter to Cuba, where they would have connected with a Caribbean Airlines flight to Guyana. However, they didn’t leave The Bahamas until Wednesday, and after spending one night in Cuba, at the expense of the Guyana government, arrived home on Thursday afternoon on a Fly Always (Surinamese airline) charter.

The AAG President, who had failed to respond to the GOA, had the temerity to show up at the airport to meet our young victors. There, Hutson, in response to calls for his resignation, boldly declared to the media that he still had “a lot to contribute” to track and field in Guyana, and that there was a lot of misinformation out there.

Well, this is not the first disaster to occur on Hutson’s watch. Last year, for the Carifta Games in Jamaica, two athletes from the Guyana Police Force (GPF) who met the qualifying standards were informed the day before the team departed that there was not enough money available to facilitate their participation. Two weeks prior, the GPF had written to the AAG offering assistance, and, reportedly, is awaiting a reply. However, miraculously, Hutson was elected to a third consecutive four-year term two years ago.

Another development over the weekend illustrated that if the status quo remained athletes’ hopes were likely to sink lower. According to a GOA press release, “The track and field team’s participation at the Central American and Caribbean (CAC) Games in El Salvador and Dominican Republic from June 23 – July 8, is in limbo due to the submission of an incomplete and inadequate long list [of] biographical information of athletes and non-submission of officials by the AAG.

“This information is necessary to allow the accreditation of their submitted list of athletes and officials into the CAC games accreditation system within the deadline outlined by the organising committee.

“Despite repeated formal requests and extensions of deadlines to the AAG for the provision of data on the named athletes based on the organising committee of the CAC games requirements, the AAG has failed to comply.”

However, there has been a shift. On Saturday, the General Council of the AAG convened and voted unanimously to suspend its president indefinitely, pending an investigation of Guyana’s participation at the 50th Carifta Games by an independent body. Hutson immediately moved to cast the blame for the Carifta Games debacle entirely on Keith Campbell, the team’s manager.

It is hoped that the findings of the proposed investigation will be made public. Hutson, who proudly posed for photo opportunities whilst receiving the cheques for millions of dollars for our athletes to represent the nation at the Carifta Games, and the AAG, must then account for all sums collected. The independent committee must ensure that the undisbursed funds – surely this must be a seven-digit figure – are returned to the private sponsors (one would hope that the AAG has a complete list), the GOA and the NSC. Any failure of full accountability for these large donations should result in the matter being placed in the hands of the relevant authorities.

Hutson’s suspension should serve as a reminder and a warning to the heads of all sporting organisations that they are there, first and foremost, to serve the athletes, sportsmen and sportswomen.

Kudos to the GOA and the MCYS for minimising this national embarrassment which would have been far worse, were it not for their timely intervention. To the athletes, who had to endure mental, physical and psychological torture just to get to Nassau and still managed to do us proud, we salute you.