BASSETERRE, St. Kitts – ELECTIONS for the St. Christopher and Nevis Taekwondo Federation (SCNTF) are just beyond the horizon and Interim President Andy Otto has stated that a number of misconceptions in the media need to be cleared.
Otto became the Interim President of the body in 2006 after the St. Kitts-Nevis Olympic Committee (SKNOC) attempted to settle a dispute within the executive at that time. Since then, infighting between the association’s past and present executive members has largely prevented the sport from growing and even resulted in the Federation’s athletes being banned from international competition on April 9.
A letter from the World Taekwondo Federation last month stated that the SCNTF “is temporarily suspended by the WTF until the time that its membership to the [National Olympic Committee] has been restored.”
Because the SCNTF practices the Olympic style (Kukkiwon) of taekwondo, the ban by the WTF essentially prevents the nation’s athletes from competing in any major regional or international competitions.
Speaking to SKNVibes, Otto said that he is moving forward with the elections needed for the SCNTF to be in good standing with the Olympic Committee and thus the WTF. However, he also disclosed that personality conflicts within the taekwondo world may prevent elections from being the panacea the Olympic Committee sees them to be.
“We are being told to just have an election, but if we don’t put a cap on all of these issues there are going to be personality conflicts. An election isn’t going to solve these problems,” he stated.
The modern incarnation of the SCNTF was founded in 1998, but over the years differences in approach and attitude from leading practitioners such as Otto, Bernard Sargeant, Desmond Daniel and brothers Lyndon and Lincoln David have consistently limited the growth of the sport.
The Davids are the co-owners of the United Taekwondo Club (UTC), which is the largest practicing club in St. Kitts-Nevis. In recent years, the UTC has attempted to revive interest in the martial art and has sent youths to regional competitions in places like Aruba and Puerto Rico even though the SKNOC has provided no funding for such ventures.
In a recent interview with this media house Lincoln David, who sees himself as the legitimate president of the SCNTF after an election that the SKNOC chose not to recognize, stated that the association’s constitution was breached when Otto was appointed and that the sport has floundered since he’s been in office.
Otto, however, argued that he has constantly reached out to the member clubs, particularly the UTC, and has been repeatedly ignored in his efforts.
“Since I took over as president, I called David and said, ‘these are my plans’. We weren’t having demonstrations when we should have and we weren’t having any tournaments. I took it on myself to go to the schools and ask if we could have a demonstration at their assemblies.”
Otto claims that the Davids flat-out told him they wanted nothing to do with the association after some time passed with him as president. Conflicts repeatedly surfaced regarding funding, association gear and the legitimacy of the interim committee, all of which Otto said need to be resolved before progress can be made in the sport.
“I feel as though SKNOC did not deal with the issues [by ordering elections]. There are a lot of issues in terms of the constitution, the emotional part of it and the governance part of it. I’m saying to deal with the issues and then we can have an election.”
The Interim President said that it is his opinion the Davids are trying to control the sport in a way that no individual should.
“I think the main problem is that these guys feel as though they should be in charge. They feel that they have a bigger class and everything should surround them. For example, they feel as though all meetings and training for the national team should be done at their dojo,” he said.
Despite feeling as though the Davids have repeatedly been uncooperative since he became president and have challenged many of the initiatives he has taken, Otto said that he does not mind relinquishing control of the association to them if that is what it takes for the sport to grow.
“Personally, I just want the sport to move on. I don’t necessarily want the presidency. To me, they are probably still the guys who are the most into it and manage to get things done… but they still want to be the president and function as an athlete. What the sport needs is someone to manage it properly.”
The return of the Davids to the association under the SKNOC remains in question, however. Since elections became mandatory, clubs have been required by Otto’s SCNTF to register their membership once again before they can vote in the election.
According to Otto, three clubs registered by the April 30 deadline his executive set and a fourth is expected to come onboard soon, but the UTC has not responded to any emails or calls he has personally made to them.
A date for the election will be determined soon when Otto’s executive meets and he said he still holds out hope that the UTC would participate in the elections as the sport attempts to begin a new era of friendship and unity, two key principles of the sport.
“Even if it passes the deadline and they say soon after that they wanted to register, I’d still accept them. They just need to make sure they register before we have elections and they can be a part of it. It is all about inclusiveness,” Otto said.
