TTFA current President Raymond Tim Kee needs to clear the air and tell the national community whether the firing of the General Secretary of TTFA has anything to do with his refusal to pay his son a whopping $15,000.00 USD to build a website for the TTFA.
Apart from all the legal brouhaha and arguments concerning whether or not he has the right to terminate the General Secretary, Tim Kee needs to be open about the real reasons why he wants Phillips to go.
Sunshine learned that Tim Kee contracted his son, Kareem Tim Kee to build a website for the TTFA. As far as members close to the TTFA are concerned, no one is aware of the process or procedure that was used to retain the services of Tim Kee’s son.
No one knew about the contractual arrangements until invoices began appearing from Kareem’s company, requesting payment for work done. This was no small amount for a sporting organization that is strapped for cash.
Invoices in the sum of $6,000.00USD, $1,500.00 USD and $7,500.00 USD were submitted for payment and it is said that President Tim Kee began applying pressure on General Secretary Sheldon Phillips to have his son paid for his services.
His son was paid $50,000.00 TTD before Sunshine understands that the General Secretary indicated that he was not prepared to sign off for any other payment given the lack of funds within the Association.
Sunshine was told that a number of coaches are still to be paid and TTFA still has outstanding payments for a number of players, yet the President’s sole interest was not in the payment to these stakeholders but to his son for building a website for which there is no contractual arrangement.
Sunshine understands that the General Secretary felt that the President had his priorities misplaced and expressed to him that seeking his son’s benefit created a conflict of interest.It was at this juncture that the relationship be-tween the two went south.
Furthermore, the Sunshine was told that at this juncture with the national team getting ready to compete for a spot in the 2018 FIFA World Cup to be held in Russia, the TTFA is under threat of being suspended from international competition.
According to correspondence dated 17 March 2015, which was sent by FIFA to the TTFA, the Association was warned to settle the debt of some $202,125.00 USD which includes interest up to 3 March 2015.
This is an outstanding sum that is owed to Mr. Even Pellerud, the for-mer national coach for the Women’s U-17 team.
The consequences are so severe that FIFA has threatened that if payment to Pellerud was not made by 10 July 2015 and a copy of the proof of payment was not sent to FIFA by the same date then the case of Pellerud vs the TTFA would be sent to the Disciplinary Committee of FIFA.
It is informative to note that to date no payment has been made and, in an effort to assist the TTFA and not to suspend them from the World Cup competition FIFA has decided to deduct the debt from the $250,000.00 USD FIFA annual stipend to the TTFA.
Anyone close to football understands that once the TTFA indebtedness had reached the FIFA Disciplinary Committee harsher sanctions could have been imposed.
But as far as Tim Kee is concerned, it seems like the fate of the TTFA was of little or no consequence; his main interest was to ensure that his son Kareem got paid.
So while Coach Hart and the national team are in training to bring glory to Trinidad and Tobago, the President of the TTFA was more concerned with putting money into his son’s pocket.
This is what Sunshine was told is the real reason behind the current impasse between the President and the General Secretary of the TTFA.
The question that keeps lingering though is whether Tim Kee has the authority to terminate the services of his General Secretary?
Or is he blinded by other factors that have pushed him to make a plethora of errors into seeking to terminate the services of Phillips?
Persons of longstanding within the TTFA believes that Tim Kee does not have the power or authority to fire the General Secretary.
They state that based on the TTFA Constitution, both the old and new ver-sions, the authority to dis-miss a General Secretary is the remit of the Executive Committee.
One senior executive member noted that under the Section: “Duties/Responsibilities of the President” the wording is not just similar but identical.
Article 23.3 of the previous constitution and Article 39.3 of the present constitution state that “. . .only the President may propose the appointment or dismissal of the General Secretary.
”In Article 30.9 under the heading “Powers of the Executive Committee” again the Constitution is clear that “the Executive Committee shall appoint or dismiss the General Secretary on the proposal of the President.”
In all three cases the operative word is “propose” and the meaning seem to have somehow been lost to Tim Kee since the word con-notes “to offer and suggest for consideration” some-thing that is lacking in the actions of the President.
Clearly based on the Constitution, Tim Kee has arrogated unto himself power that he does not have and rather than taking a proposal to the Executive Committee, Tim Kee proceeded to terminate the service of the General Secretary of the TTFA.
Even if Tim Kee had legitimate grounds to do so, the most he can do is pro-pose.It is left up to the Executive Committee to deter-mine whether or not it sup-ports Tim Kee’s proposal and terminate the tenure of Phillips or whether they support the actions of Phil-lips in which case Tim Kee needs to resign because he has lost the confidence of his executive.
That Phillips to date has not been reinstated has raised serious concerns because one can only hope that the installation of Paula Chester-Cumberbatch, Assistant Secretary, Administration to the post of Ag General Secretary of the TTFA was not simply to ensure that Kareem Tim Kee gets paid. Such an action should result in the immediate suspension of the President who should be debarred from contesting the elections on November 29, 2015.
One can only hope that the way Tim Kee manages the TTFA is not the same way the Office of the Mayor is managed because under the PNM it is this type of nepotism and cronyism that the leader of the party promised to get rid of when he ascended into power.
It is difficult to imagine Tim Kee as a Jekyll and Hyde where in the seat of the Mayor he displays one kind of personality while as the President of the TTFA another kind is displayed.
Maybe football needs to take a closer look at Tim Kee the man who valorized Jeffrey Webb who is now embroiled in the type of controversy that Tim Kee feigned to shun.
The lessons, football has learned with Tim Kee as President, have been extremely difficult and many hope that his actions against Phillips would now become the basis for his withdrawal as a candidate for the post of President.
Maybe that is too much to ask but when personal interests take precedence over national interest then the decent thing for anyone to do is to resign and give your office to one who puts country first and self after. The time has come for Tim Kee to go so that football can once again breathe freely.