Georgetown clubs express ‘no-confidence’ in GABA

Oct 01, 2011 Sports

-Threatens to establish Interim-Committee instead

By Edison Jefford

Earlier this week Pacesetters’ Chairman, Dennis Clarke, lashed out at the Georgetown Amateur Basketball Association (GABA), stating that its move to have a season-opening tournament was in fact a move to prevent a ‘no-confidence’ vote from clubs.
Kaieteur Sport sought a comment from the President of the GABA President, David Carto, on a number of issues including this subject, and he was adamant that he is unaware of clubs moving to express ‘no-confidence’ in him and his administration.
Maybe the document of clubs expressing ‘no-confidence’ had not reached him yet and maybe it still has not reached him, but this newspaper learnt yesterday that ten City clubs have signed the document expressing poor hopes in the Georgetown sub-association.

David Carto

A copy of the letter was exclusively leaked to Kaieteur Sport. The date on the document was September 13, 2011, which was two weeks before my inquiry earlier this week, yet Carto told this writer that he has no knowledge of the clubs being tired of the state of affairs.
“Dear Mr. Carto, we, the undersigned clubs, (affiliated to GABA), formally write to express our dissatisfaction relative to the ongoing inactive period of basketball activities,” the first paragraph of the letter indicated.
“A seven-month period of inactivity has now elapsed; hence our concern for the development of the game must be addressed urgently. You’re aware that a number of meetings were convened by GABA and nothing materialised,” the letter continued.
“In light of the mentioned, we mandate your response within seven days, which you must outline GABA status as it relates to basketball activity. Failure to provide an acceptable explanation will result in the listed clubs taking the necessary action to set up an Interim Committee to handle the basketball activities in Georgetown,” the document concluded.
The ten clubs that affixed signatures to the letter that was carbon copied to the Guyana Amateur Basketball Federation, include Ravens, Pacesetters, Maccabees, Eagles, Nets, Scorpions, Colours Panthers, Plaisance Guardians, Bounty Colts and Pepsi Sonics.
“Because they heard that clubs are getting ready to move a no-confidence vote against them, they came up with the thought to run a tournament for all associated clubs,” Clarke had indicated this week in a statement.
The Courts Pacesetters Chairman was reacting to the announcement of the tournament via media while no correspondence was apparently sent to his club informing them about the contest. When this newspaper received the email about the tournament, the Division I ranked Pacesetters as one of the teams not listed as a registered club in Georgetown. The release indicated that the deadline for registration has since closed and clubs interested in playing the GABA League afterward will have to pay a $2,500 late registration fee.
Carto had told this newspaper when contacted that only registered clubs received information on the tournament, but with 99 percent of the registered clubs in the City signing a letter expressing ‘no-confidence’ in the GABA, the tournament is in further limbo. The tournament was scheduled to start earlier this week. It is yet to formally commence as of the publication of this article.