Vice President, of Murray Town Tennis club, Andy Bam has furiously condemned the action of Kelvin Kellie, President, of the Sierra Leone Tennis Association, to copy First Lady, Fatima Bio in a letter reminding members of next week`s stakeholders’ meeting and the elective congress slated for early March.
Andy said the press release indicating the name of Her Excellency is not in-line with the purpose of the stakeholders’ meeting. “I don’t know why the First Lady was copied because she has never been part of Tennis all these years”, he said.
The VP added: “Her Excellency loves sports but I don`t think she is aware of this or maybe he [Kelvin Kellie] is using this to threaten us. We can never be moved by this threat”.
He said the recently revised constitution by the President has many flaws which led to a high level of discontentment among members of the tennis clubs in the country. This is about the good of tennis which doesn’t belong to any individual”, he stressed.
“A delegation of tennis players, coaches, and a few stakeholders held a meeting at the National Sports Authority (NSA) office at Wilkinson Road Freetown a few weeks ago and we tabled seven key points which are legitimate concerns to map the way forward for tennis countrywide but Kelvin doesn’t want to address these concerns.
“It is widely expected that members of the lawn tennis association are going to challenge the constitution ahead of the elective congress meeting scheduled for next month because we don`t want him to go for a third term. Enough is enough! Let him allow other members to come in and help the association.”
Speaking to this press, Kelvin Kellie said he copied her Excellency because she has a stake in Tennis. “She is a member of the Tennis family and had Children that are playing Tennis, noting in 2010 we organized President’s Trophy and in 2019 as well we supported and hands. After the Stakeholder meeting, I have to write to the First Lady to inform the latest developments and probably request more development work that is good for the Elections.
The President however called on the aggrieved members to exercise patience as they prepare to go into next month’s elective congress.