Exasperated is the most accurate adjective to describe my thoughts when writing about this local football saga. But when one is down, few people try to help him/her back up or give words of encouragement to stand on two feet again. I am sure that must be the feeling of William Wallace who is undoubtedly persona non grata with FIFA and the Minister of Sports.
When one thinks it can’t possibly get worse as battling FIFA is bad enough, thrown into the mix is the Minister of Sports, and based on her recent comments to the media, I find her confusing. On one hand, a few weeks ago, she said, to paraphrase, she rather not get involved in any FIFA vs T&T Football Association (TTFA) battle because two years ago, she was told by the then TTFA president to stay out of FIFA and TTFA business.
Yet, she comes out to the media to deliver a message to stakeholders and says that she recognises FIFA’s imposed normalisation committee. Perhaps they don’t represent anyone. To be honest, I wish when it comes to football the Minister could simply refuse to comment on the matter. At least she will be consistent then.
Remember Wallace is fighting, what he believes along with many others, to be an unjust act and abuse of power by FIFA against a democratically elected body just three months into its operations.
Meanwhile, another letter surfaces from an anonymous staff member asking Wallace to do the “humane” and “rational” thing and concede the local football body’s bank accounts to the FIFA-imposed normalisation committee.
Strangely enough, the letter was both unsigned and undated and not sent directly to Wallace, but instead to selected media houses. Certain insiders have sent me suggestions about who they think the letter originated from.
When one of those individuals was confronted and asked this simple question, “Did you write the letter, and were there other staff members involved?”, the individual responded, “Lol”.
Now, I can’t speak for anyone, but if I had written the letter I would have perhaps said: “Yes, I wrote it because I am frustrated and need my salary now”. I can certainly empathise with the employees’ frustrations, especially during these difficult times. I also understand Wallace’s fight and I am confident that should any of those workers find themselves in his position fighting for a cause, they may well pursue a similar type of action.
What is even more puzzling to me is if First Citizens is not facilitating any disbursements until this whole mess is settled by court order, then why doesn’t the normalisation committee do the “humane” and “rational” thing and pay the employees?
Surely FIFA can make a cheque out to the normalisation committee in order for the TTFA staff to receive their salaries. Unless the normalisation committee members are not being paid and doing this for the love of football? I highly doubt this is the case as the payment of their salaries may be the least of their concerns.
FIFA must be aware, through the normalisation committee, of what is happening here with the TTFA’s bank account. I certainly do not know if any constitution allows for that type of situation to arise, but this must be treated as an exceptional circumstance.
As expected, Wallace is being painted as the big, bad wolf for not wanting to give salaries to the staff. But, I am also made to understand in the letter written by the anonymous staff member that the office staff do not qualify for the government’s salary relief programme and have also been refused assistance through the National Insurance Service (NIS) because of the non-payment of statutory deductions from their employer, TTFA. This was because the previous administration allegedly withheld approximately TT$4 million payable to the National Insurance Board and the Board of Inland Revenue for NIS, Pay As You Earn (PAYE), and health surcharge for its employees between November 2017 and November 2019.
The problem I have is simple - why is there supposedly no one investigating these irregularities? Surely if the normalisation committee had any conscience, and I believe that they are all persons with high integrity, they would be investigating certain issues that the footballing public need resolved. I keep reading about this normalisation committee saying that they are not on a witch hunt.
No one is asking for this, but what is being asked is whether there were misdemeanors leading up to March (or was it January?) 2020 when they were appointed. They would then have a duty to the football-loving public of T&T to come clean and let people know what they have investigated and what is going to be done about it.
I am sick of hearing the old adage of “Let’s forget the past” as this is a new chapter for football. How can anyone just shut their eyes and move forward when apparently there is so much stink dirt to be dug up within our football administration? Does anyone care about just how we have found ourselves in this position? Are people suggesting that we simply forget what has happened over the last four years to denigrate our football into vagrancy status both on and off the field?
How can any right-thinking individual take up a post and not go into the archives and ask basic questions like where was all this money spent? Who were contracts given to and why? What procurement process was followed? How were appointments made? Why were details of the whole ‘Home of Football’ project kept such a big secret and why was the workmanship deemed shoddy?
Perhaps, I am very wrong and the normalisation committee is very quietly behind the scenes doing their investigations. Maybe on one sunny day, we will see a news conference where all will be revealed as to why our football has been in a dark, terrible hole for the last four years. Only then will I be able to breathe a sigh of relief and say let's all move on with our football. Wishful thinking at its best.
SOURCE: T&T Guardian