Tennis Association Hits at Charitable Organizations

Concord Times (Freetown)

12 May 2011

Freetown — The executive body of the Sierra Leone Tennis Association (SLTA) has slammed an indefinite suspension on all charitable tennis organizations operating in the country. Organizations affected by the temporal ban are the Sierra Leone Kids Tennis, Tennis for Africa and notably amongst them is the Max and Sam Tennis Foundation.

Addressing members of the media on Wednesday at the National Stadium Hostel, president of the association Kelvin Kellie said his executive has decided to take such a move after uncovering a lot of fraud in the activities of the said organizations following some thorough investigations.

“Since we were elected in office in December 2009, we have been conducting investigations locally and internationally into the activities of charity organizations raising funds for tennis development in Sierra Leone,” Kellie said. According to him, their investigational findings concluded that most of these organizations provided wrong and misleading information in the media in order to raise funds and also collect used clothing and other tennis materials for other purposes other than that supplied to them.

“This illegal act must stop now as the executive is now taking a firm position on stopping such fraudulent transaction by suspending their activities both locally and internationally,” Kellie said.

However, the SLTA president stated that his executive is open to encourage and work with all the affected organizations and individuals as long as they follow the process in seeking a benevolent partnership.

Meanwhile, an official statement from the Max & Sam Tennis Foundation has vehemently refuted all the accusations made by the SLTA regarding the operations of their organization.

The massage reads: “The information that has been communicated, which claims that equipment has not been donated to our tennis programmes is totally untrue and only serves to damage the development of tennis in Sierra Leone. We would kindly request to see the tangible evidence that the SLTA has collated during their investigations, which has resulted in the conclusion that our activities are both illegal and fraudulent.

“Our Foundation run and support sports coaching and competitions, provide clothing and equipment, support educational opportunities and help talented players in a number of sports in Sierra Leone and other nearby countries. In spite of this obvious attempt to discredit our organisation and our volunteers, we intend to continue delivering these aims and objectives and will be continuing all our activities, including our support to tennis in Sierra Leone.”

The massage also stated that it is the desire of all the volunteers at the Max & Sam Tennis Foundation to have a positive working relationship with the SLT A, as they have with all other organizations.

AllAfrica – All the Time