Shamfa: TTCB, NGC need to meet

SPORTS Minister Shamfa Cudjoe is adamant the TT Cricket Board (TTCB) and the National Gas Company (NGC) need to be in the “same room” to discuss NGC’s audit of their sponsorship of the local body between 2014-2016.

An audit by the former TTCB sponsor revealed 24 per cent ($2,983,000) of its funds was not spent according to the Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) signed by both parties.

National League representative Daren Ganga brought the situation into the public domain with a leaked copy of the audit. Since then, there have been calls from members of the TTCB for the entire TTCB executive to resign.

Less than two weeks ago, the TTCB executive said they wanted to meet Cudjoe to clear their name of any controversy.

The meeting was held yesterday evening and Cudjoe said, “I look forward to both of them being in the same room at one time and going through the issues so we could get to a place of resolve as it relates to this. NGC is a state enterprise and we would want some clarity as it relates to what really had happened and what the situation is in moving forward.”

Cudjoe said representatives of the Ministry of Sport and SporTT may be present at the next meeting.

Cudjoe said the TTCB informed her that the matter could have been resolved through the dispute resolution mechanism under the MOU.

She said, “The memorandum would have spoken about a dispute resolution mechanism as part of their agreement, and TTCB would have highlighted that NGC did not utilise that either. Matter of fact, NGC did not identify a need to do that in this case.”

The Sports Minister wants the TTCB to bounce back from this situation. “I am hopeful that the cricket board could recover from this because cricket is the heart of sports in TT. We love football, we love cricket. We don’t want to see cricket bear this bad reputation based on this experience from this report from 2014 to 2016. I really want to see TTCB rise up from this,” Cudjoe said.

Executive member of the TTCB Manohar Ramsaran, a former Sports Minister, had previously said government officials would best understand the process in which funds allocated for a specific purpose, if unspent after all expenses have been covered, can be legally reallocated to other areas within the framework agreed on.

“This is a common occurrence in ministries and local government bodies which does not constitute corruption or misbehaviour in public office. But some people has seen an opportunity to make mileage out of a situation to fulfil their own objectives and this is unfortunate,” said Ramsaran.

The NGC audit, confirmed by its president Mark Loquan, specifically states however that the TTCB – as stipulated in the MOU – should have informed NGC of its intent prior to reallocating any funds.