WASBO in the dark over AWISA invitation
Calistus Kolantsho | Thursday February 9, 2017 11:18
WASBO public relations officer, Dr Keba Hulela said contrary to what AWISA senior official told Mmegi Sport this week, the invitation has not come through.
AWISA secretary general, Carol Garoes had said the invitation came through the Botswana National Sport Commission (BNSC).
But Hulela argues, even if the invitation came through BNSC, it could have reached WASBO by now. Even BNSC chief executive officer, Falcon Sedimo said he was unaware of any invitation from AWISA.
Hulela admitted their relationship with AWISA is strained.
“We last communicated with AWISA in 1998 and we only saw them last year when they attended the Africa Women in Sport Congress in Gaborone. We should be benefiting from the continental body like other countries, but that is not the case,” she said.
She said AWISA should be assisting WASBO in accelerating its mandate of dealing with issues affecting women and girls in sport.
Hulela said all along they knew that Botswana was going to host the congress. She said the congress was to be held back to back with the 2017 World Netball Youth Cup in July.
She said the changes, which AWISA made to move the meeting to Kenya, came as a surprise to them. When asked if there was anyone willing to contest in the AWISA elections, she said it was too early to mention any names because of the confusion surrounding the venue. The continental body is gearing up for elections after they were postponed during the May 2016 congress held in Namibia.
Meanwhile, Hulela said she was aware of the amendment of the AWISA constitution. She said when the amendments were discussed during the Africa Women in Sport Congress it was agreed that the old AWISA constitution should be distributed to members through the Africa Union (AU) office. She said that was meant to give members time to go through the document before the elections. She said that has not been done despite the elections approaching.
AWISA was established at the International Working Group Namibian conference in 1998.
AWISA has been accused of been dormant and disconnected from the main sport governance infrastructure at both continental and international level.