Two-time former national men’s singles champion and current General Secretary of the Guyana Table Tennis Association (GTTA) Godfrey Munroe has been named interim president of the GTTA following the tragic death of former Commissioner of Police Henry Greene.
The decision to install Munroe as the interim president came Tuesday night at a meeting of the executive and council members at Olympic House, 76 High Street.
At that meeting it was also disclosed that the Annual General Meeting of the association will take place on October 20.
According to a press release from the GTTA, Tuesday night’s meeting was convened to discuss the presentation and tabling of the audited financial statements of the GTTA, to elect an interim president and to set the dates for the AGM.
“The meeting was held based on the tenure of the executive having expired and to fill the vacancy of president given the death of Mr. Henry Greene former president of GTTA,” the release stated adding that …”The need to fill the position became critical in order to regularize the operations of the association so as to have continuity.”
Munroe was nominated by Ray `Copter’ Anderson and seconded by Andrew Daly.
Senior Vice President, Harold Hopkinson was nominated by Colin France. However, no member of the executive or council seconded his nomination and the nomination did not go forward.
It was therefore agreed by the council that Munroe would serve as interim president until the elections set for October 20.
The council and executive congratulated Munroe on his interim appointment while Munroe, in reply, thanked the executive and council for their vote of confidence in him, pointing out that it was a very critical time in the association’s existence.
According to the release, Munroe indicated to the council that there were critical issues facing the association and he was counting on their support to further propel the sport.
He outlined the need to reconstitute and get the committees functioning in the outlying regions and said he wanted the coaching structures to provide a better framework so that table tennis players could realize their full potential.
He said he also wanted to ensure that the activities planned for 2012, in the inter organization and Digicel schools championships along with the National Championships and the Latin American Cadet Championships go ahead as scheduled.
The audited financial statement was also presented by the Treasurer Robin Hunte, for the period June 2012 which constitute the final accounting period for this executive and council.
According to the release, it was agreed at the meeting by the executive and committee that the statues of the GTTA’s constitution do not make provision for the Vice Presidents to ascend naturally to the position of president.
This was the case previously when former president and now Attorney General Anil Nandlall resigned as the senior vice president then Arron Fraser also did not act as Interim President.
Those attending Tuesday’s meeting were Hon. General Secretary, Munroe, who co-chaired the meeting with Hopkinson, Junior Vice President, Dr. Pradeep Balram, Treasurer, Robin Hunte , assistant General Secretaries Linden Johnson and Deirdre Edghill, Patrick Triumph PRO, Council Members Roy Mookram, Daly, France and committee member and women’s auxiliary representative, Yonnette Rosheuvel.
