Around three years ago in a meeting with the then secretary of the Inter-Provincial Coordination (IPC) Ijaz Chaudhry at Margala Hotel in Islamabad a senior official of Pakistan Olympic Association (POA) and a reigning president of a federation categorically stated that some of the then pro-government sports personalities were ridiculing the national sports policy.
The official whom I don’t want to name as he is a highly competent person was of the view that those who were talking about the sports policy were themselves trampling it by installing themselves as chairmen after they had served two tenures as presidents of their federations.
In fact, it is not only the case with the then pro-government sports officials but we can see in the current sports set-up as well that those officials who complete two tenures as presidents of their federations become chairmen to prolong their careers. And why wouldn’t they do that? Working at the top positions of federations the officials are not only able to see the whole world but they also earn money through different means.
According to the sports policy’s tenure restriction clause, president, secretary and treasurer of a federation cannot serve for more than two four-year tenures. But this clause does not apply to those who hold key posts of secretaries or presidents of Asian and world bodies.
In sports stakeholders not only have to follow the local laws but they also have to respect international rules and regulations. We don’t see any posts of chairmen in international sports governing bodies. Presidents are their chief executives who run the affairs.
When powers rest with the president then why do sports federations in Pakistan amend their constitutions and accommodate outgoing presidents through the creation of posts of chairmen? It is a serious issue. When an outgoing president is accommodated as chairman of a federation, if he is influential, he takes all powers of the president in his own hands and uses the chief executive as a rubber stamp. We can see that several federations have their top level officials acting as chairmen and it is difficult for their presidents to even question what they do. A few days ago, a federation’s president became chairman after he completed his two tenures as the head. The same official had also served as secretary for several years.
On December 14 Pakistan Boxing Federation (PBF) also created the post of a chairman in its constitution in order to accommodate outgoing president Doda Khan Bhutto in the new set-up which would be created at the electoral meeting of the federation on January 26 at Peshawar.
Some experts say that through the implementation of the sports policy’s tenure restriction clause the federations will gradually lose their cream and experienced hands like the then president of Pakistan Boxing Federation (PBF) late Professor Anwar Chowdhry who also ruled AIBA for several decades.
But Chowdhry was a rare case. Although under his rule, Pakistan won international medals, in reality he did not give a sound boxing structure to his successors who were incompetent and buried the sport during the last eight years. Chowdhry did not prepare even a single person in his federation who could work like him.
Instead of prolonging careers through creation of new posts in their constitutions the top officials of federations should groom young and competent people in their ranks so that their successors could manage the federations effectively when they leave.
We have seen in the past few years that young presidents and secretaries of certain federations performed effectively despite meagre resources. It is time to give youngsters a chance. If you don’t give young people confidence the system cannot be changed.
Pakistan is not doing well in sports because mostly those people are governing federations who are too old and exhausted to run sports affairs impressively. And retired people are unable to attract sponsors. Like Chowdhry there are a few in Pakistan’s sports whose services are important despite their old age but they are not indispensible. We see in the existing sports culture that an individual serves as secretary of a federation for eight years, then acts as president for eight years and then grab the position of chairman for eight years. It means a single person can serve a federation for 24 years. If he performs well, it’s okay. If not, it means he will leave when he has completely ruined the sport.
Majority of our sports personalities don’t follow ethics. They are unable to perform but still want to cling to their positions. They are fighting with each other for grabbing federations and associations. That is why there are a number of parallel bodies working in the country. All this is unethical. Tenure restriction is not a bad thing in itself. It helps in checking corruption and promotes rotation which keeps the development chances of a sport alive. It’s time Pakistan’s sports fraternity created a healthy culture which could provide an opportunity of serving the federations and associations to those who are energetic, professional and honest.
Some people argue that an official needs a long time to establish international relations and that eight or 16 years are not enough. But I think if your athletes produce results in international circuit international sports fraternity will approach you.
Two personalities ruled the POA for the last 38 years but none of the two could do anything exceptional. That is why Pakistan is struggling even in South Asia.
Although the POA cannot interfere in the affairs of federations, in itself it can set such a healthy precedent which will compel federations to follow suit.