As the Guyana Football Federation (GFF) electoral congress saga continues, the GFF has approved the attendance of the four affiliates initially debarred from exercising their voting rights by the Electoral Committee (EC) at the polls tomorrow.
However, their voting rights are still denied, a matter that GFF General Secretary Ian Alves says is a matter for the EC. The four members who were deemed to be of ‘Not Good Standing’ with the GFF by the EC are KFC Elite League clubs Santos FC, Police FC, and Western Tigers FC, as well as the West Demerara Football Association.
In a letter seen by Stabroek Sports, Alves sent out a correspondence dated December 6 to the quartet of clubs and associations, declaring, “I write to inform you that the Electoral Committee has clarified the communication that it sent to the General Secretary on December 2, 2023. As such, your club is entitled to attend the GFF 2023 Extraordinary Congress scheduled for December 9, 2023. The issue as to whether your club can vote is a matter solely for the Electoral Committee. Accordingly, the requisite invitation and convocation documents are herewith enclosed.”
However, following that letter from Alves, GFF presidential hopeful Franklin Wilson immediately wrote a letter of appeal to Alves with respect to the voting rights of the quartet.
In that letter of appeal (inset), Wilson writes on behalf of the four affected parties and challenges the authority of the EC to strip the quartet of their voting rights. He expressly opposed the move by the EC and cited Article 9 of the Electoral Code of the GFF.
He closed by stating, “The EC has acted outside of its remit to decide on the good standing or not of these members, and therefore, we appeal this decision and seek for our members to be reinstated and allowed to vote at the 2023 GFF Extraordinary Congress scheduled for December 9.”
Today will bring us a day closer to the elections, and it is yet unclear what the third term amendment means, something GFF President Wayne Forde has been silent about despite stating that he is unsure of the consequences of the statute and is seeking legal interpretation.
Additionally, Wilson, in another official statement, declared, “We are happy that FIFA has stepped in and brought clarity and justice to this situation of the voting rights of members. No one from our slate has attacked the integrity of the Electoral Committee. Instead, we have challenged their legitimacy by being able to suspend members from voting.”
He further stated, “We now know it’s the Secretariat that tried to deny our members their right to vote. Therefore, we condemn, in the strongest possible terms, such deceit and deception practiced by the incumbent slate, claiming integrity while engaging in the worst form of discrimination, which is to deny legitimate members the right to vote. We say, Let the voting process decide; let integrity, transparency, and fair play prevail.”
