Buxton incident
Kashif & Shanghai urge ministerial probe
Stabroek News
February 5, 2004
The Kashif and Shanghai Organisation is calling on the minister of Culture, Youth and Sport to set up a commission of enquiry into the recent robbery of six members of the senior national football squad.
In a release to the media, the organisation said the robbery of the six in Buxton last week is a disturbing development, which exposed the inherent weaknesses in the administration of football at the national level and underscores the ineptitude of those responsible for football in Guyana.
Six members of the squad, encamped at the Buxton Community Centre, were robbed last Friday evening by seven gun-toting bandits while they were returning from an athletics meet.
The Guyana Football Federation has launched an investigation into the robbery and subsequently moved the squad to the Palace De Leon Hotel in Kitty.
The release said: "Those responsible for the administration of football in Guyana can hardly be unaware of their responsibility to create an environment in which an encamped national team can properly prepare to represent Guyana at an international level. An integral part of that responsibility is to place the encamped players in an environment where, as far as possible, both their physical and mental well-being would be assured."
Therefore the choice of location for the encamped national team was a grave and unpardonable error in judgement.
"While we are profoundly grateful that no injury or loss of life occurred, we deplore the fact that the lives of our national footballers, a value to our country, may actually have been put in danger," the release said.
Given these circumstances, Kashif and Shanghai Organisation called on Minister of Culture, Youth and Sport, Gail Teixeira, to establish a commission of enquiry into the robbery incident and the general amenities and facilities afforded to the national football team in the shortest possible time.