David John-Williams, the newly elected president of the T&T Football Association has vowed to get the financial books of the local association in good standing order within the next 90 days so it can resume accessing the FIFA US$250,000 annual grant available.
Last year, the T&TFA had its granting of the fund halted by FIFA for failing to maintain proper financial records and the cash strapped federation has to be dependent on the local Government as well as co-operate T&T to assist in the conducting of its financial affairs.
Following a meeting with Minister of Sport Darryl Smith and Michael Phillips, chairman of the Sports Company of T&T (SporTT) at the Ministry of Sports Head Office, Abercromby Street, Port-of-Spain, yesterday, John-Williams, the former president of top local professional football club W Connection, said he was focussed on getting the troubled T&TFA financial accounts in order.
He said: “There’s a lot of issues that we need to address, but we don’t want to talk about the past, the past is history, but with regards to the finances of the T&TFA I can publicly say now that we have US$500,000 sitting down in FIFA that my organisation cannot access because the finances are not in order.”
Refering to an article in the Guardian Newspaper yesterday, he said: “Those of you who would have read the newspaper today (yesterday) would have noted that FIFA said they were being more rigid with member associations and their finances, and there is money to be access in addition to an additional US$600,00 for specific projects.
“But unfortunately, the T&TFA cannot access those funds at the moment because of a lack of our financial statements,” he said.
With respect to finding a quick solution to the problem, John-Williams noted that: “I will be meeting with the auditors this afternoon (yesterday), and I can assure you that I have mandated them that we need to get the books in order within 90 days.”
“The impossible we will achieve, and the miracles we will leave to God, but we are not asking for a miracle. We have to do it, because if we don’t we might as well shut down the T&TFA”.
Commenting on the football body dependency on the Ministry of Sport and Sports Company of T&T to come to its rescue on a regular basis over the last four-year term led by Port-of-Spain Mayor, Raymond Tim Kee, John-Williams said: “Yes, I know we are heavily dependent right now on the Government of T&T for some sort of support and we want to thank them for that support”.
In responding to a request from Minister Smith that associations and local sporting bodies must present requests for funding in atimely fashion, the president responded: “It’s no secret that the earlier you book your goods and services its the cheaper. I want to assure the Minister that under my watch things are going to change.
In closing, John-Williams said his new T&TFA executive would have its first meeting on Wednesday December 16, of which all stakeholders will be informed of what is happening, while a road map for T&T football had also been produced and was available for scrutiny on the association’s website.