Two days ago, we showed you the press conference held by Earl Jones,
the General Secretary of the Football Federation of Belize. He was
responding to a group of football stakeholders who are trying to remove
FFB President Sergio Chuc and his executive members from office. They
say that he isn't doing a good job as the top football executive.
As we've told you, Chuc and his executive team will be seeking
re-election at the next FFB Congress, which is scheduled for July 4th.
During his 1st term in office as President, we've heard very little
complaints about Chuc's leadership.
The General Secretary says these recent critics have emerged simply
because of the election cycle. He systematically refuted their
complaints as nothing more than political mischief-making designed to
unfairly attack Chuc's credibility.
Well, those dissenting voices are not backing down. In fact, they
turned up the volume on their public pressure today by hosting an
almost 2-hour long virtual press conference today.
They spent the duration of that press conference painstakingly pointing
out everything wrong with Chuc's term in office. And in those
presentations, they were making very strong allegations of
mismanagement of FFB funds and the supposed rigging of the upcoming
elections.
For legal reasons, we can't share a significant portion of their press
conference, but, we've put together a short excerpt in which the
speakers made their case against the current administration. Here are
those comments from this afternoon:
Onan McLean - Aspirant, FFB President
"The President executives give the impression and boast that they have
restored confidence to Belizean football. What they have not shared is that
they are now recipients of approximately 600% more funding than Chimilio's
and Ruperto's administrations. The previous administration received only
$500,000 Belize, as compared to 3 million annually, that they are now
receiving, thanks to FIFA's new President, Infantino, and the FIFA Forward
project. What they have also not shared is that they have not optimized the
use of the funds, as being mentioned a little while ago. They have wasted
money on national team program participation in tournaments, without
producing positive results."
Dean Flowers - Aspirant, FFB Vice President
"What I discovered, after reviewing certain information that I had
requested is that the allocation for administrative staff for 2018 when Mr.
Chuc got in, was a mere $158,000. Mr. Chuc spent $356,000 He went over by
229%. Where the administrative cost, he was afforded $141,000 and Mr. Chuc
spent $705,000. He spent over 497% more than was given to him. And where
the financial management and marketing is concerned, there was also
overspending. So, in essence, when it comes to administrative costs, Mr.
Chuc over-spent by 800%, and the money that he utilized, was money
earmarked for travel. He then went and took the rest of money, to the tune
of $435,000, and spent that on the men's senior national team, when in
fact, he had 0 dollars budged for that from the FIFA operations Fund. So,
that is the deficit that the Federation is now looking at, which is to the
tune of $900,000, that we were querying because honestly, we didn't know.
We kept hearing that there is money missing, and FIFA is saying the money
had to be placed back. But, it was until this COVID-19 situation hit and
then the laying off of staff started and that what prompted us to start
digging deeper and then were able to identify exactly where the money was
and why there is the need to now start cutting cost to be able to start the
bleachers because if they cannot put back this money, FIFA isn't giving
them an advance to start that bleacher that they so brand and ceremoniously
did ground-breaking ceremonies for last month."
Eugene Cleland - Aspirant, FFB Vice President
"It's about 18 million dollars being allocated for Belize over the next 4
years and one of the reason I am contesting is the ensure that we get value
for money. I believe that football need to have a wider cross section of
individuals at the table making better decisions in managing resources."
Of important note is that Shane Orio was disqualified from running for
a post on the FFB in the upcoming elections. He was part of today's
group of critics who called this press conference. He made some very
serious allegations against the FFB executives, which we cannot air
without black-and-white evidence.
The Premier League of Belize is also holding their electoral congress
this coming Saturday, and one of the presidential candidates,
Clifford King, was among today's football stakeholders who disagree
with Chuc's administration.
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