The Botswana Athletics Association (BAA) plan to appoint a Chief Executive Officer (CEO) has been stalled.
This follows the establishment of the Sports Commission which recently took over from the Sports Council.
It is understood that the new body is not yet out of the drawing board, and was still crafting its strategy, forcing BAA to put its plans on hold.
The Sports Commission is expected to finalise their plan first before endorsing changes in the BAA structures. Former acting Botswana National Sports Commission (BNSC) CEO, Thato Kgosimore has been identified for the plum post.
Botswana National Sports Commission (BNSC) Chairperson Solly Reikeletseng told Sunday Standard Sports that a draft strategy crafted by the Commission is yet to be completed before they can press the green light. ‘’We previously had intensions to hire a CEO for BAA as their athletes were riding high in the international scene but since the new board took over we are waiting for them to complete the strategy .It should be understood that the intensions were discussed before the Commission existed,” said Reikeletseng.
Some BAA insiders say the association is expected to hire a CEO with a deeper understanding of athletics.
Although Kgosimore has earned his stripes as a sport administrator as interim CEO and BNSC Development Director, pundits believe he is not the best candidate to take the association to bigger heights.
‘’It is unfortunate that the sporting mother body insisted on imposing a CEO of their choice on the association. Some executive members were not pleased as they believed the association is capable of hiring an individual best suited for the post,” a source told Sunday Standard Sports.
BAA President Moses Bantsi has however dismissed rumours that Kgosimore is tipped for the BAA top post.
‘’We will advertise the posts together with others in the structure and the whole process will be conducted by experts who will be appointed to recruit on behalf of the association. No one will impose an individual to us” said Bantsi.
He explained that, “everything has been done and the structures are in place. Our expectations are that we would be funded soon so that we can start the recruitment process”.
Although BAA has not been able to attract lucrative sponsors, the sporting code is the most successful in the country raising international stars like Nigel Amos and Isaac Makwala.
The code performed even better this year, with a record number of athletes qualifying for the Rio, Brazil Olympics later this year.
