Transparency vital from FIFA in TT

THE EDITOR: In a previous letter I supported FIFA’s action for appointing a normalisation committee in TT because:

* FIFA is a private organisation, it is responsible to no one and exercises extraordinary power over sovereign nations.

* As an example of FIFA’s extraordinary power, in October 2015 it banned the Kuwaiti national football team from international play because of a dispute over a Kuwaiti law.

* FIFA is the international governing body of football, formed in 1904 and based in Zurich, Switzerland.

* FIFA’s intervention and subsequent imposition of a normalisation committee in TT should serve as a stark warning of the significant consequences of corruption within our country’s football that has left the TT Football Association in debt of over US$7 million, and the risk of suspension of the member association, a very likely consequence if it was allowed to continue unchecked.

* Out of FIFA’s approximately 211 members, a number of associations have had recent or current experiences of normalisation committee interventions – Kuwait, Guinea, Guatemala, Greece, Argentina, Thailand, Mali, Benin, Ghana, and Uruguay.

I again call on all football-loving people of TT, including the ousted TTFA president William Wallace and his executive, to support FIFA’s imposition of its normalisation committee. A king without his kingdom is nothing. An organisation without money is nothing.

Let’s face facts, the TTFA is bankrupt. The TTFA does not have the finances to govern its affairs. Let not your heart be troubled, things will improve.

Today I call on FIFA and the members of the normalisation committee to exhibit transparency in its management by providing the public with answers to the following:

* What is the plan for liquidating the TTFA’s US$7 million debt?

* What is the plan for any amendments to the TTFA’s constitution?

* What is the road map for reconstructing football in TT?

Answers are urgently needed. A bold vision is necessary for TT to become a force in international football on the world stage in the future.

ARTHUR SUITE

via e-mail