The report that almost broke karate’s back
Calistus Kolantsho | Saturday September 21, 2024 06:01
The accountant, appointed by the Botswana Karate Association (BOKA) executive committee to present the audited financial report, was ordered out of the meeting as delegates bombarded him with questions. Ryushin-kan chief instructor, Keorapere Dube, said before the AGM, that they requested BOKA to provide bank statements and financial reports for the years 2022-2023 and 2023-2024. He argued that he could not adopt the financial report that was presented as it lacked a supporting bank statement. The treasurer, Kemmonye Seletamotse, interjected saying they took a decision not to provide the bank statement. “If you need a bank statement, go to BOKA office. I have never seen a bank statement being requested in a meeting. In the past AGM, I informed you that we did not have access to the bank account because there was no proper handover by the previous committee,” she said.
Dube asked Seletamotse to cite the clause of the BOKA constitution that prevented her from providing the bank statement. He stated that they needed the statement to confirm what was contained in the financial report. Otto Tafa of Kufukan said the financial report was incomplete and could not be adopted. “It is difficult to ask the accountant for clarity because we do not know where he got the figures he shared. We should be provided with a bank statement,” Tafa said. For his part, BOKA president, Mpho Bakwadi, said members should ask relevant questions like enquiring about BOKA assets. The financial report was accepted by Ofentse Bakwadi (Hayashi-Ha) and Eileen Alberts (International Shotokan Karate Federation (ISKF). In the end, the meeting adopted the report. During the week, Dube made a follow-up through a letter to Bakwadi in which he stated that BOKA members have the right to view and obtain copies of the complete BOKA annual returns including bank statements as required by the Societies Act. “In addition, a number of legally binding resolutions pertaining to the funds were made without the support of audit, authorised investigations reports or the general assembly’s verification of the executive committee.
Instead, these resolutions were based on hearsay. Failure to provide bank statements will lead us to suspect that accusations against the ousted executive committee regarding misappropriation of funds were unfounded, that Karate Nomichi Federation’s expulsion reasons were unfounded, and that our association’s executive committee members may be misappropriating funds,” Dube said in the letter.