President of Alpha United, Odinga Lumumba, at a press briefing at the Water Chris Hotel yesterday brought to the public’s attention his efforts to end the impasse between the Georgetown Football Association (GFA) and the Guyana Football Federation (GFF).
This situation developed between the two bodies following a disagreement over an election process by the GFF, in which they suspended the GFA’s constitutional right to vote at any Annual General Meeting (AGM) held by the GFF.
In response to this, the GFA moved to the court and obtained an injunction against the GFF which barred them from having their AGM.
Lumumba stated that since that court case, on behalf of the Government, he has been trying to assist in bringing the conflict to an end.
Therefore, he wrote the two bodies suggesting that they consider sitting down and negotiating some agreement that would lead to the resolution of the impasse. He said this would include lifting the ban on the GFA and giving them a chance to conduct an election and having all the associations go through regularization of individual clubs prior to the GFF AGM.
Lumumba stated that the GFF’s Assistant General Secretary George Rutherford wrote him back stating that “we are willing to move forward.” He stated: “During the last general council meeting of the GFA about two weeks ago, I submitted a motion which was seconded and approved by the general council that stated that through the General Council mandatory executive order the lawyer of the GFA, Roysdale Forde would meet with the lawyer of the GFF so they can sit and deliberate the issue raised to bring an end to the conflict.”
The Alpha President said he spoke to Forde on February 8 and to his surprise, Forde told him he was never given such a mandate to be completed by the GFA nor was he ever told of the resolution by the GFA General Council.
Lumumba stated his next move was to write Christopher Matthias, the General Secretary of the GFA informing him of this development.The letter also read that President of the GFA Vernon Burnett told Lumumba that Forde was aware of the General Council decision and was given an instruction. That act he described as a gross disrespect for the clubs.
“Alpha United is asking you to direct the GFA’s attorney Mr. Roysdale Forde to meet with the GFF attorney by Friday 10th, 2012 to discuss the way forward and work on a solution; also explain to the clubs why the General Council directive was discarded.” Finally Lumumba said that he spoke to members of the GFA and some clubs to ask them to meet on Saturday at Water Chris Hotel at 11:00 am to discuss the matter and how they should proceed given that the GFA has failed once again to meet with the GFF.
He added that if the problem is not solved quickly Guyana can be banned from international football and the Golden Jaguars would be unable to compete in the World Cup qualifiers because of the likelihood that the world governing body would get involved in the matter.
