During the past 15 years’ rule of the Bangladesh Awami League (AL), the country’s sports arena had been in the grip of politicisation, which stood in the way of its flourishment. The interim government has taken initiative to save the sports sector through reforms.
The outline of the reforms will be released in a few days to close the ugly chapter the sports arena saw during the 15 years’ rule of the Awami League and also during the BNP-Jamaat’s regime.
Since the country’s independence, all the sports federations were being led by the people loyal to the party in power. Many dedicated organisers had not been given leadership position in the federations and as a result, the sports arena suffered.
The first election to the Women's Sports Association (WSA) was held in 1998 after the AL came to power in 1996 when Obaidul Quader was the sports minister. The returning officer of the election was National Sports Council (NSC) secretary and later Athletics Federation president ASM Ali Kabir.
Before his death in June 2022, Ali Kabir said, “The initiative to arrange this election was noble but we can’t say it failed completely. However, due to some errors, the election was meaningful.”
Some federations have not held their elections for a long time. For example, after 2008, there was no election to the Weightlifting Federation for 16 years. The last election to the Women's Sports Association was held in 2012.
According to the NSC Act, the tenure of the Executive Committee (EC) of a sports federation is four years. But despite expiry of four-year tenure, many federations or organisations did not seen any elections in time. Instead of holding election to the women's sports organization, an ad-hoc committee was formed there on March 1, 2017 and this committee is still running the organisation.
In this regard, it was written in the notification of the NSC that the ad-hoc committee will complete the election as soon as possible. But even after seven and a half years, it is alleged that the then president and whip of the organization, Mahbub Ara Gini did not take an active initiative regarding the election. Sportswoman Hamida Begum was made general secretary of the ad- hoc committee. She died in March 2022.
Elections have been held in very few federations. Whatever happened, a conciliation committee was formed and submitted to the NSC. There has been division of posts.
According to NSC data, currently there are elected committees in 29 federations. The remaining 26 are government-appointed ad-hoc committees.
Muscle wins
Except for one or two of the federations that have held elections in the last 15 years, there have been more dramas like national elections.
Some have seen a boom in money and power. For example, a general secretary candidate was not allowed to stand in the Bangladesh Hockey Federation election in July last year.
Mominul Haque, popularly known as Casino Saeed, was elected unopposed to the post of general secretary. After getting a glimpse that Sajeed A Adel, a long-time and tested organizer of hockey, could be a candidate for this position, Mominul Haque canceled the councillorship of both clubs of Sajeed in various tricks.
Elected without a vote
There is no such thing as electoral heat in sports arena. Committees are held one after the other without voting. From December 2016 to November 2019, nine of the 10 sports federation elections did not have a vote. Committees of Shooting, Swimming, Badminton, Gymnastics, Handball, Volleyball, Archery, Roller Skating Federations were elected unopposed by submission of single council.
The political governments have been nominating the army chief unwritten as the president of the Bangladesh Olympic Association (BOA) for so long.
There are allegations of influencing the election in various ways. Some of which are open secret.
Power of forum
In 1996, the District and Divisional Sports Organizing Council or Forum was established by the late Secretary General of BOA Zafar Imam. This forum became influential in the selection of many federations in sports. Many call it sports poison.
In the words of former badminton player Kamrun Nahar Dana, "I heard many people say, Zafar Imam Bhai is dead, the sports arena is gone."
Let us give an example of how elections are held hostage by the forum. Let's say a sports federation has 60 votes, out of which about 35 are from districts. 25 clubs or others in Dhaka. As a result, what the forum wants is done. In this opportunity, many unqualified people also entered the sports federation. The influence and power of the forum reached such a level that a district organizer was brought in and made the general secretary of the NSC.
It is not that the district officer cannot be the general secretary of the federation. But most of the time the official had little connection with the game. Due to which the game did not get any momentum like the activities of the federation.
Why the same person should be in District Sports Association, Divisional Sports Association and National Federation is also a big question. But it has happened regularly. General Secretary of Patuakhali District Sports Association Alamgir Hossain became General Secretary of Bangladesh Badminton Federation. Mohiuddin Bulbul, the then General Secretary of Feni District Sports Association, held this position during the BNP period who was later dismissed as a member of the search committee for renovating the stadium.
Sometimes there have been allegations against the forum of taking money in return for promises to pass someone. There are allegations of ballot boxes being filled the night before the national election, but there is no need to print ballot papers except for one or two exceptions in the sports arena. There is no voting. But in the name of the selected committee in the sports arena!
Former national badminton champion and sports organizer Kamrun Nahar asked for the reform of the electoral system and said, “Earlier NSC used to have ad-hoc committees with good people. But we felt that democracy is needed in sports. So, I wanted the election. But taking advantage of the constitution of the NSC, the opportunity seekers who are not related to the game enter the sports field.
As a result, tested, and sincere individuals in sports development are lost. Now a radical change is needed in the constitution.
Something should be done so that qualified people can come to the sports arena.
