Lutterodt and others call for GAA interim committee

Mr. George Haldane-Lutterodt aspiring president of the Ghana Athletics Association (GAA) and Mr. Princeworth Anane and 15 others are calling for an interim committee to manage the Association, till outstanding issues are resolved.

Lutterodt, Anane and others sought for an injunction to be placed on the GAA’s elective congress fixed for November, last year citing abnormalities in the electoral process.

A press release signed by Messrs. Lutterodt and Anane and copied to the GNA Sports said, the plaintiffs were unhappy about fixing Tamale, as the venue of Congress among other matters.

According to them, the decision by the current administration to hold congress in Tamale, was pushed in the throat of some delegates who were coerced with promises and benefits adding that, the regional delegates congresses for election of executive officers in the regions to attend delegate congresses were not properly conducted, having confirmed from the National Sports Authority and the Electoral Commission of Ghana who supervises and conducts of elections.

On their part, the current leadership of the GAA do not have the development of the sport at heart and were also not ready to step down for anyone to take over hence they request the court to rule for the formation of an independent body appointed by the Ghana Olympic Committee (GOC) to moderate major concerns and issues surrounding the tenure of office of the Executive Committee members of the GAA.

The statement said, “we the concerned group of Athletics, Past Performers, Former Coaches and Technical Managers recommend that all-inclusive contributions and submissions be derived from all to present their views, inputs and proposals for consideration at a General Assembly to address this matter.

“We request an Interim Committee mandated by the IAAF, the court or non-governmental committee (Parliamentary Committee on Sports) to look into all the concerns relating to constitutional breaches, skews, expunges and expenditure before any declaration of electoral congress.

“We further declare a level of mistrust and no confidence in the executives whose tenure has expired. We petition that the level of autocratic and compulsive behaviour of the executives and the Secretary General cannot be tolerated. This has brought a great division among athletes, coaches and even lovers of athletics.”

The petitioners claim Executive Officials of GAA have more interest in traveling than the Athletes welfare while the association does not have a place for proper competition and training outside Western Region (Essipong), Northern Region (Tamale) and Cape Coast Sports Stadium. The other facilities for athletic training and competitions in Accra and Kumasi (the major athletics cities) are nothing to write home about.

They also argued that “GAA now belongs to a certain class of people who are taking it as their bonafide property. They go about threatening athletes and coaches if they don’t support them.

“The Executive Officers have their individual or personal agendas in serving GAA which must be addressed rightly. Example, a Secretary-General travels on an international meet and declares himself a coach, an organizing secretary who is an executive official travels with athletes and declares he is the official coach perhaps we have enough coaches qualified to do the job.

“Some coaches were invited to be with athletes in their travels but they did not meet their qualification as coaches instead they had their personal plans with the executives.

Meanwhile, the GAA and the petitioners would again appear in Court on Monday, April 29 for a hearing.