By Neto Baptiste
President of the Liberta Sports Club and former West Indies fast bowler, Kenneth Benjamin, has rebuffed claims that the body has been operating with a political agenda designed to undermine the sitting Member of Parliament for the St Paul Constituency, EP Chet Greene.
His assertion follows claims by Greene that the principals of the popular sports club have not been as accommodating to his requests for use of the facility as they have been to another political entity.
The MP has also accused Benjamin of heading the political campaign of one candidate, whom he did not name, a claim Benjamin also denies.
“We had issues when Rodney [Williams] was there, we had issues with Namba [Eleston Adams], definitely, so there is no political agenda whatsoever. We don’t skylark with that. If you notice, there is never any of our teams sponsored and the names of politicians are on [the uniforms] because that is definitely a no-no; so there is no political agenda by the Liberta Sports Club,” he said.
“When Namba was the representative, Yasoso [bakery] sponsored the football team and Namba was upset about it because he wanted to sponsor but he didn’t have a business and we said no, that can’t work and Yasoso sponsored the football team,” he added.
Greene, during an interview last week, suggested that he was being unfairly treated by the sports club where it pertains to use of the facility, while hinting that the perceived treatment could be politically motivated.
Benjamin said the notion that the sports club is targeting Greene because of politics could not be further from the truth.
“The last time they asked for the building was a couple of weeks ago when they had their health fair and we sent the invoice with a zero balance saying compliments of the Liberta Sports Club. It is not the first time he has used the building for that and we have never charged. We have charged the UPP because they had a training function there and we charged them because it wasn’t a community event where the community was going to benefit and so they had to pay for it,” he said. The Liberta Blackhawks captured the 2018/19 Premier Division title after they were promoted to the top flight the previous season.