I shall start my journalistic work with a word of caution for the next FIBA president. Beware if you are being pressured to sign the renewal contract of an incompetent employee by the name of Patrick Baumann to remain as the FIBA secretary general for another 12 years despite his current tenure being plagued by incompetence, racial discrimination and corruption.
How can Baumann be rewarded with another long term of employment when past experience show he could not even manage a national basketball federation with any credibility and integrity.
Word is that Baumann will be hard-pressed to get his renewal contract from the next FIBA President which, through a rotation system, will come from the FIBA Americas (a lady?).
The shadowy figure behind Patrick Baumann’s re-election bid is former secretary general Borislav Stankovic, who the FIBA family named as secretary general emeritus in the past.
On the outside, Stankovic’s appointment to the honorary position would appear to be a courteous gesture, if not a reward for past services he rendered.
But on the inside, it would seem that Stankovic did not desire a graceful exit but instead wanted to remain in the FIBA Secretariat so he could continue to enjoy the financial benefits that come from an organization that is raking millions and millions of dollars of revenues worldwide.
For the record, it was Stankovic himself that was responsible for Baumann’s original 12-year appointment as FIBA secretary general.
So long as Baumann is around, Stankovic stands to rake in more money from the humongous FIBA coffers. Stankovic has put in his dummy, Baumann, to protect his own selfish interests.
The two have been running the FIBA hierarchy like it was a family corporation or a Mafia entity. It is dictatorship, in fact and in form, as only people from their inner circle can rule with impunity. Baumann knows fully well he is under the command of Stankovic and the FIBA Secretariatcannot act on its own without
the approval of the latter.
To the duo, decisions on major issues that involve marketing, only need the official stamp of Stankovic, and never mind the FIBA Central Board.
The FIBA is being run by people with Mafiosi characteristics, which perhaps may be even much worse than a country governed by the communists, with due respect to the principled communists. And why is it worsts than a communists-run government?
In some of them, the government is run by the General Secretary of the Poliburo, who, in turn, is elected President for a term of five years and cannot be in power for more than two terms. Generally, he works for the welfare of the state and its people.
In contrast, the FIBA Secretariat is run incompetently by a contracted employee like Baumann to act as the secretary general whose job is to protect only the interests of some shady people in the hierarchy, and run it like a family corporation.
No decent people from the various national basketball federations of the world can ascend to power without the support of a few evil men like Stankovic and
Baumann.
Why do they stick to power like a leech? That’s because there’s a lot of money in the FIBA that does not go directly to the organization but rather to the pockets of the Secretariat.
The money coming from marketing, sponsorships and television rights is
enormous.
But the Secretariat gets the bulk of the financial pie through ingenious accounting and conspiracy with other corrupt personages within the
"family."
Greed is their game, and tyrannny is their means of governance.
And as the saying goes, “Power corrupts and absolute power corrupts absolutely.”
Now comes the forthcoming FIBA World Congress, where the devilish masters of the family corporationare calling the shots during the August 27-28 meeting in Spain, which is just days before the staging of the 17th edition of the FIBA Basketball World Cup (formerly known as the World Basketball Championship) there.
Rumors have it that Finland, which is only ranked 39th in the world, got one of the four "wildcard" berths to the 24-nation World Cup for its ability to prop up the FIBA coffers and make people like Stankovic and Baumann rich and happy.
The presidents of the various national basketball federations from the world will come together to attend the FIBA World Congress in Spain.
However, it is likely that only the voices of Baumann, Stankovic and Bob Elphinston, the former FIBA president who has returned as the president of FIBA Oceania, will probably be heard.
The NBF representatives will be aplenty but only to listen in silence. In a show of force, the word of Baumann and company is final and executory!
Baumann and Stankovic will come in like knights in the shinning armors. The two are expected to paint a rosy picture in their State of the FIBA Address and claim another mandate.
The declaration, of course, is far from the truth as the FIBA has fallen on hard times in terms of credibility and integrity through the years. It is tainted with alleged corruption by the higher-ups.
One U.S. National Basketball Association (NBA) owner, Mark Cuban of the Dallas Mavericks, recently accused of the FIBA of only making money out of its
professional players, making them believe that participation in FIBA
competitions is an act of patriotism and national pride for their countries when
the games are really all about money directed solely to the FIBA coffers without any financial responsibility to the players and the NBA teams they are employed in.
Additionally, the FIBA Secretariat has wantonly dipped its hands in the internal affairs of the national basketball federations such as the one in the Philippines when the tradition-steeped Basketball Association of the Philippines
(BAP), which had been a member of the FIBA family since 1936, was illegally dismissed in favor of the fledgling and money-driven Samanhang Basketbol ng Pilipinas(SBP) in a treacherous and conspiracy move.
Do we allow this to happen to the national basketball federations of other countries as well?
The Japan Basketball Association (JBA) is Baumann's target.
Baumann has started to meddle in the internal affairs of the JBA, dictating to the traditional Japanese executives on how the national basketball federation should be run their activities.
Why the interest of Baumann?
That's because Baumann smelling some good fortune in his bid to enter the
marketing aspect of the JBA.
Word is that Baumann is already advising his dummy FIBA marketing group to get in touch with a major Japanese corporation and seek its approval for a joint venture with the FIBA ahead of the 2020 Tokyo Summer Olympics.
The callous and boorish manner of Bauman, who has never been involved in his own national basketball federation and was an incompetent referee before FIBA's Family Corporation hired him to do some dirty jobs, is despicable.
Baumann has acted like a puppet and is being pulled (and fooled around) by the strings of his master, the Fu Manchu-like Stankovic.
Is this the Baumann you all want to hold office for another 12 years? God forbid if another disaster is forthcoming.
Major decisions are unilaterally decided upon by the powers-that-be with vested interests.
Dictatorship has no place in a free society, not even in FIBA.
The choice of the next FIBA president is in your hands. He must be elected
through a consensus vote and not simply dictated upon by Baumann and
Stankovic.
Steadfastly we must act and commit to a wholesale overhaul of the FIBA leadership, specifically the Secretariat.
The FIBA should be run democratically, where even the whispers of the smallest member federations could be heard. Let us act now if we do not want the FIBA to be thrown into the dustbin of history as an incompetent and corrupt organization.
Its legacy is at stake in the forthcoming elections.
We must cleanse the organization of the rotten eggs if only to restore the FIBA to its old glorious and respected stature.
The FIBA’s survival rests on the hands of the good majority and not of the powerful and corrupt few in a free and democratic society, the majority wins – and rules. (GCL)