My 2cents on this whole thing.
1. No Ministry will ever be run like the private sector.
The civil service regulations just will not allow that (weary69 could confirm)
I personaly don't want the ministries to be anything like the private sector since it is common knowledge that the sucessful private sector is corrupt, self centered and very nasty.
You could talk about the productivity of the government workers but that is an entirley different matter.
The Ministries are to execute goverment policy and support the private sector in this case the sporting organisations.
Every year the sports ministry's budget is presented to the minister of finance and F and GP for approval in the national budget. The sporting orgs will provide plans, programs and budget for the year to inform this.
Cabinet through the advice of the minister of finance and in this case the sports minister will make their case and the budget or part of will be approved. The funds aproved will then be disbursed to the relevant sporting organisations once the criteria for is met for the disbursement (this is normally a simple accounting type document).
This probably explains why the Minister held the press conference i.e they asked for the audited accounts in order to make the disbursement.
For the PSIP (Public service investment plan) which is capital expenditure , the sports company is set up to run this however I see that they are also getting involved in funding basketball leagues etc.
2. TTFF will never give the GOTT a full audited statement of accounts.
The reason not being that Jack will be exposed for corruption or anything like that but because it will show how much the TTFF is indebted to Jack.
a. The buildings they rent is owned by Jack
b. Jack pays the salaries.
c. Jack pays for all the other expenses (travelling, courses etc)
d. The interest Jack is charging is probably of the same magnitude of TT credit cards 25 to 30 %
What this means is that TTFF is in debt to Jack to the tune of millions and millions of dollars.
If this ever sees the light of day our football is going to go into a terminal tailspin.
The issue with Shawn and this press conference should never have happened.
The proposed meeting between the ministry and TTFF would not have been open to the Media, the decisions coming out of that meeting would have been presented to the media after the meeting.
The Ministry had to know that TTFF would never attend a meeting where they could not provide the goods and TTFF asking for a formal agenda was a escape for them.
So what the Minister had was a straight press conference on football.
Shawn had no alternative but to attend this because it is his job albeit under the umbrella of being the media officer of TTFF.
Shawn should not have been allowed inside the building, first by security and secondly by the Ministries communication department.
I think what happened is that nobody thought anything of it until the Minister displayed his displeasure from there it went bad. This Nunez person is probably not well trained and could not in this situatation quickly advise the Minister that it would be better to let Shawn be than make an issue of it since the Ministry has nothing to hide anyway. The Minister also is not very quick on his feet for him not to realise that also.
This man is essentially a seamstriss and we should not really expect any better from him.
So there you have it.
I think this post pretty much sums things up. However, I would like to offer a couple of thoughts.
Maybe, just maybe, Hunt is cleverer than we all think. Maybe he called the meeting with TTFF knowing they would not bring along the accounts. He really boxed them in. Hunts the good guy coz we wants to give money to football, but he can't just dish it out without accountability.
Round 1 to Hunt.
Hunt knows Fuentes will attend the press conference. Hunt lets him in, because he wants all of T&Ts media to see him throw out Fuentes. He's sending a public message to Jack. Hunt is saying "Jack, I ain't no pussy. I have no respect for you or any member of TTFF. The game is up and I'm coming after you."
Round 2 to Hunt.
Hunt has now publically declared that he's not happy with TTFFs accounts. UNDER NO CIRCUMSTANCES can Hunt now award money to TTFF without a TTFF audit. Everybody will crucify Hunt if he gave money to an organisation that has publically been accused of (at best) poor accounting. So anytime that Jack and Ollie whines in the press, journalists should be asking them why the accounts haven't been produced. All Hunt is doing is protecting taxpayers money. How can he be a bad guy?
Round 3 to Hunt.
TTFF and Jack need to be very careful now. If there is any indication that TTFF money is improperly spent, Hunt will call in the Fraud Squad (don't know if you have this in T&T) to suspend TTFF pending a full forensic audit. FIFA cannot object as tis is not a football matter. FIFA cannot be seen to support fraud.
With regards to Jacks grip over TTFF, this is easy to resolve. TTFF can go bankrupt. Jack can then reclaim 10% of provable debt from the TTFF shareholders and directors. The govt and people of T&T owe Jack nothing.
Also, I wonder if Jack has committed fraud when he mortgaged his property. You usually have to state the reason you wish to use the funds for i.e. home improvements, debt consolidation etc. So on Jacks application, did he state the money is for paying the debts of someone elses company in which he has no official interest?