Despite the Upper Demerara Football Association (UDFA) and East Bank Football Association (EBFA) recently adopting their respective constitutions, the East Coast Football Association (ECFA) is yet to officially begin their constitutional reform process.
According to sources close to the association, the entity is yet to officially gather at a forum to discuss the constitutional reform procedure despite the impending deadline set forth by the GFF through its official time-line.
The official timeline for the GFF Constitution Reform and Congress states that meetings for adoption of each member’s new constitution should conclude by September 25th.
The timeline further stated that meetings to elect new executive committee of members should occur by October 30th, with the GFF congress programmed to be held November 14th.
According to the sources, the association has not staged an official meeting for several months to discuss any matters relating to the sport.
The sources further noted that the reforms currently being put in place by the federation seems to be posing issues for the association which can only explain their failure to commence the constitutional ratification procedure.
The sources noted that while the two clubs (Victoria Kings and Buxton United) within the jurisdiction who possess Elite Club Licence Status are yet to ratify their constitutions, they would have been a part of several meetings with the other Elite Clubs and are in a far better position than the association who are yet to stage one sitting.
Installed in the month of October 2014, the Normalization Committee’s main objective is to reform the constitution of the GFF and all its affiliates before the original September deadline.
To date, only a new federation constitution has been adopted following an Extraordinary Congress held on June 26th, with the process to reform the body’s now 22 affiliates currently commencing even though the Normalization Committee will serve as the electoral committee.
Some major amendments to the new constitution saw the federation membership being increased to 22 affiliates, 10 more than the previous allotment.
The new members of the federation will include the eighth Elite League teams as well as newcomers the Guyana Futsal Association and the Guyana Beach Football Association.
The eight Elite League clubs which will be allowed a vote at GFF Congresses in the future are Alpha United, Slingerz FC, Pele FC, Georgetown Football Club, Guyana Defence Force, Monedderlust FC, Buxton United and Fruta Conquerors.
Similarly being amended was the voting count. Under the previous GFF constitution, each of the nine associations had two votes each while each affiliate had one vote apiece. This translated to 21 votes at the sitting of any congress.
With the increasing of the membership in the new constitution, each member will only be allowed one vote in the form of the entity’s President which equates to 22 votes.
