Presentation of financials eludes BOKA meeting again
Calistus Kolantsho | Tuesday November 7, 2023 09:12
The meeting was a continuation of the Annual General Meeting (AGM) that was held a few weeks ago, where the financial report was not presented because of the absence of the treasurer. The last time an audited BOKA financial report was presented was in 2021. The treasurer, Kemmonye Seletamotse, was advised to go back and work on the report by the affiliates. The affiliates picked that some of the figures in the report were not correct and there were other corrections that should be made while other affiliates advised that she should have penned her signature to indicate that she owns the report.
In her remarks, Seletamotse told the meeting that the report was not audited. She explained that when they came into office, they were not able to secure financial statements from the previous committee. “We depended on invoices that were submitted to the Botswana National Sport Commission (BNSC) from suppliers that BOKA owed. We struggled to find financial statements. After a few attempts we found information that indicated that the BOKA bank account had a negative balance. We do not have a record from April 2022 until January 2023. We did not have funds from sponsors, what we have on record is money we made through tournaments,” she said.
Seletamotse also said they could have audited the financial report only if they had records from the previous financial year. She explained that during the period when they were an interim committee, they did not have access to BOKA funds, as the BNSC took care of all the payments. Keorapetse Mogopodi said it was important for the records for the period of October 2022 until January. He said the period cannot just be empty because there was action that was happening. Thupa Thupa of Mabuni Federation said it is time to move forward and stop pointing fingers on the wrongs of the past. Regarding payments made by the BNSC, Thupa said it is only proper for the information to be shared with the delegates. “We do not want to find ourselves in a sticky situation a few years down the line that BOKA still owes. You should not shy away from asking the BNSC to provide you with the records because we want to know what they are dealing with,” he said.
Quirk Mothei of Shokokai Federation said since the committee is struggling to get records from the previous committee, they can get the records from Registrar of Societies and be able to compile a complete financial report. Mothei volunteered to assist the committee to compile the report. Moses Jones of Kufukan Federation said next time, the BNSC officials should come and appraise the members on what they have paid. He said the committee should go and put the house in order. Another delegate, Ofentse Bakwadi advised the committee to seek help from professionals within karate in order to come up with a proper financial report. He said next financial year, delegates should be provided with an audited financial report.