Dear Editor,
It should be brought to the public’s attention and by extension that of Mr Abdul Jabar, Registrar of Friendly Societies, that the Guyana Football Federation’s (GFF) Annual General Meeting scheduled for Saturday, April 16, 2011, at the Ocean View Hotel Convention Centre, should be declared null and void and illegal.
This is primarily because the federation’s General Secretary, Mr Noel Adonis, failed to publicize in the print media the date, venue, time and agenda of the AGM within the stipulated time frame of fourteen clear days notice. Editor, while it has been brought to my attention that the current GFF Constitution (with its relevant amendments) makes no provision for public notification, this doesn’t hold water.
Since the GFF is registered as a Friendly Society, it must abide by the statutes, rules, regulations, laws and by-laws of friendly societies. Further, no association or organization’s law supersedes the laws that govern a country.
In this regard, the Friendly Societies should duly inform the GFF of its shortcomings. What is the big secret about the federation’s AGM and the election of office bearers? The entire world knows that Mr Mohamed Bin Hammam of Qatar is challenging Mr Joseph ‘Sepp’ Blatter for the presidency of FIFA. So, what is wrong in Guyana, when Mr Klass is unchallenged?
Finally, no affiliate of the GFF must be fearful of duly pursuing the matter of the legality of the GFF AGM under the Friendly Societies Act, since “Any decision made /taken by any executive shall be binding and not revocable by any Court of Law.”
Meanwhile the executive of the Georgetown Football Association (GFA) must also vigorously pursue their voting rights.
This comes against the backdrop that the Women, East Demerara, West Demerara, East Bank and Bartica over the last four to five years have had no sustained level of competition conducive to aiding the development of football domestically and nationally. Further, they should demand that these affiliates produce the relevant documentation, ie, audited financial statements (associations and clubs); constitutions; minutes of the last AGM and Secretary’s Report, since they are paid servants of the sport, with a monthly salary equivalent to US$1,000. Should these requirements not be forthcoming within twenty-four hours upon request, then the AGM must not proceed, and the offending parties must not vote, or any member of the respective executive receive a nomination.
As a consequence the ministerial interventions of Dr Frank Anthony and Mr Manzoor Nadir of the Culture, Youth & Sport and Labour ministries respectively, remain an utmost priority, in relation to nullifying the constitutional manipulation of the GFF constitution to suit the whims and fancies of a selected few.
The state of local cricket leading up to its AGM remains a source of national embarrassment. But with ministerial intervention under the Friendly Societies Act, the process would now be regularized. Could the same format not be applied to football, and save the sport from further destruction?
Yours faithfully,
Lester Sealey