The Annual General Meeting of the Guyana Chess Federation (GCF) originally scheduled for July 21, will now be held August 4.
According to executive member of the body, Frankie Farley, the decision to stage the AGM, at which election of office bearers will be held for the first time since March 26, 2017, was met with criticism from some members about the notice for the elections.
Farley explained that according to the constitution, the body had to publish notice of the AGM in the daily newspapers with a month’s notice.
He added that this has now been fulfilled and the date is set.
When the AGM gets underway from 10.00 hours at the National Resource Center, Woolford Avenue, a five-year plan for the development of the sport will be unveiled while a new constitution is expected to be ratified.
Additionally, nominations for the election of office bearers will be accepted between July 21 and 28 and can only come from financial members. Nominees must also be financial members.
Farley chaired an “Annual General Meeting Committee” along with Loris Nathoo and Davion Mars and they proposed a number of changes to be made relating to the elections.
Should the elections come after the passing of the new constitution, it would mean the financial members of the GCF under 18 will be unable to vote and a voter’s list will have to be established.
The document presented by the committee stated “since it [the old process for elections] did not exclude children from the voting process it could result in manipulation of young impressionable minds to vote for particular candidates without the benefit if considering a wider set of issues that usually develops with age and achieving adulthood.”
The document suggested another option of having the list of registered and fully paid members be submitted with a closing date and agreed on with at least six weeks’ notice.
If the new constitution is ratified, elections will be held bi-annually as Article 10 b (iv) states: “the purpose of the Annual National Conference shall be: in each alternate year, to elect members of the executive federation.
Farley said that he is supporting the two- year provision saying “based on the developmental plan and the implementation, it has to do with those factors as we try to merit it along that line.”
Farley, who had been tipped to run for the presidency said he was still thinking about it but he needs to establish a team.
Incumbent President, James Bond also told Stabroek Sport that he intends to seek re-election.
