NOC Sri Lanka in tatters: Transparency and accountability ignored
Membership wants to end Hemasiri Fernando (R) and Maxwell de Silva's (L) repressive administration.
The general membership of the National Olympic Committee of Sri Lanka (NOCSL) has united to fight the alleged “repressive” administration of Hemasiri Fernando and Maxwell de Silva.
The duo—who are President and Secretary, respectively—has run the institution with scant regard to the principles of good governance, transparency and accountability since 2012 and the membership now wants to end this “dictatorial rule”.
The NOC last had their elections in 2009. Even though fresh polls were due in July 2013, they were postponed on the basis that the Sports Regulations introduced by the Ministry of Sports did not create an environment for an impartial election.
Enjoying international immunity provided by the Olympic Charter, which are the governing principles of the Olympic Movement, the current administrators have run the institution according to their whims and fancies since then.
A letter signed by 11 of the 18 eligible voting members of the NOC (of the 26 fully fledged members, two are still awaiting ratification at an Executive Committee meeting, four member associations are involved in legal proceedings while two are yet to hold their elections) has demanded the holding of the long overdue election of office bearers at the earliest.
“This state of flux at the NOCSL has gone on for far too long and as a person who has been involved in senior managerial positions at national and international levels, l find it to be against my conscience to accept the present state of affairs and style of management at the NOCSL,” said one of the members who placed his signature to the letter.
The NOC last held a General Assembly in 2012 of which the minutes are yet to be shared among the memberships. It has not also provided annual reports of the Secretary General nor have the statements of accounts been shared with the members since 2010.
The NOC has also failed to submit their accounts for auditing since 2010, a clear violation of the country’s sports regulations, and have not held monthly Executive Committee meetings since 2013 as required under Article 13.3 of the NOC constitution.
The members also charge that, even though it was agreed with the IOC on November 27, 2013, to revise the NOC constitution within six months, even a draft of the constitution has not been shared with the Executive Committee as of date. Since no Executive Committee meeting has been called, the selection and appointments of delegates to congresses, conferences, meetings of the IOC, OCA, CGF and SASF and the chef-de-missions for games have been made without any approval.
“This is virtually a one-man show, with the Secretary General calling all the shots and traveling the globe to his whims and fancies, without much accountability, and without any reporting to the membership and or sharing of information,” the member said. “The Secretary General appears to be on a vote-buying spree by offering foreign trips and unusually large grants funds to some NSAs, from the funds the NOCSL receives from the international Olympic Solidarity Programs.” He also said the current administrators have shown no regard for accepted financial guidelines.
“Financial guidelines have been violated and that is worrisome,” he said.
“We the undersigned, the duly appointed Representatives of our respective National Sports Associations, nominated by our membership to serve on the National Olympic Committee of Sri Lanka, do hereby wish to present the following resolutions to be discussed as Agenda items at the General Assembly, in keeping with Article 12.5 of the revised Constitution (and amendments thereof) of the National Olympic Committee of Sri Lanka certified and acknowledge by the Ministry of Sports and Youth Affairs on 28th October 2005,” the letter signed by member associations including Rowing, Boxing, Athletics and Football, states.
The letter has been copied to the Director, International Relations of the IOC and Director General and Technical Director, Olympic Council of Asia (OCA).
Responding to a ‘web notice’ published on September 22 by the NOC convening a long overdue General Assembly of its membership on November 9, the members forwarded eight resolutions to be adopted at the General Assembly.
‘We feel that a General Assembly has finally been called due to pressure from the IOC to hold elections,” the member said.
They have requested for the minutes of the last General Assembly held in 2012, the annual reports of the activities of the NOCSL since 2010, accounts statements since 2012, the reasons for delay in submitting of accounts to the auditors, the methodologies for selections and appointments of delegates to congresses, conferences, meetings of the IOC, OCA, CGF and SASF and chef-de-missions for games, a draft of the proposed constitution, list of members for election at the general assembly and to fix date for the election of office bearers.
NOC president Hemasiri Fernando was recently quoted as saying the elections of office bearers will be held before the end of this year as per the instruction of the IOC.
“We are ready for elections in December as per the Olympic charter,” Fernando, who has held office since 1998, was quoted as saying by AIPS. “We got clear instructions from International Olympic Committee (IOC) and we will process the matter from next week and call for nominations soon.”