Dear Editor,
The decision of six legitimate affiliates of the Guyana Football Federa-tion (GFF) namely, the Georgetown Football Association, the East Dem-erara Football Association, the East Bank Football Association, the Guyana Football Coaches Asso-ciation, the National Women’s Football Asso-ciation and the Guyana Football Referees Council, to walk out of the reconvened ordinary Congress of the GFF, held on August 9 at the Regency Hotel was justified. In the process they utilized their constitutional power to nullify the implementation of unconstitutional and undemocratic measures which would have enabled provisional members in the Upper Demerara Football Asso-ciation, Bartica Football Association and the Essequibo-Pomeroon Football Association to have voting rights.
Editor, apart from being unconstitutional, it is to mislead the public to suggest that associate members of FIFA voted at the recently concluded Congress in Brazil.
The relevant constitutional articles relating to loss of membership have not been correctly applied, ie, in the case of the Berbice Football Association. How many executive meetings and General Council meetings in addition to competitions have been held over the last 15 months? Are minutes of the respective meetings and competition reports in the possession of the GFF, not forgetting audited financial statements?
Finally, associations which are administered by IMCs are referred to as provisional members, and cannot enjoy the same benefits and privileges as affiliates. Provisional members can deliberate at any Congress, but they do not have the right to vote.
Why is it that the minutes of a previous GFF General Council Meeting with corrections, omissions and adoption were not produced last Saturday, to substantiate the claim by the federation’s President that such a situation had previously occurred during the Klass presidency? Meanwhile, were the two contentious issues pertaining to associations’ representatives deliberated upon? Affiliates of the UDFA and WDFA had submitted correspondence to that effect.
In the first instance eight affiliates and three associates had deliberated at a meeting and had unanimously decided that Keneisha Dey and Patrice Bynoe were their legitimate representatives to attend the Congress.
Suffice it to say that the clubs are also objecting to the manner in which the duly elected executive of the UDFA was suspended, without observing due process, natural justice and constitutionality. Over on the West Demerara, the clubs objected to the non-representation of their Secretary at the Congress owing to a purported suspension. As a consequence it comes as no surprise that the administration of national football is in such turmoil. At no time in over two decades was an executive ever reduced to two individuals – the president and a committee member. This was compounded by the walkout of the six GFF affiliates’ representatives; thereafter one Vice President and a committee member followed. So how could the GFF as an executive, devoid of a quorum nominate an individual to fill a vacancy as vice president in defiance of the constitution, more especially when the suspension of a vice president was illegal? A more perfect script could not have been written for the annual satire ‘Nothing to Laugh About.’ Did the re-convening of the Congress conform to the stated agenda, as was indicated publicly in the case of the previous one? If so was the vote of no confidence still an item on the agenda?
At what juncture was the filling of the vacancies for vice presidents ratified?
Yours faithfully,
Lester Sealey