GFF ELECTIONS: Every avenue must be exhausted to restore voting rights

Dec 06, 2023 Sports

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Kaieteur Sports – The recent decision by the Electoral Committee to debar four affiliate members of the Guyana Football Federation (GFF) from participating in Saturday’s Electoral Congress must be challenged vehemently.

Every avenue available must be exhausted by the Franklin Wilson-led slate to ensure that the injustice meted out to the four members must be highlighted and their voting rights restored ahead of the upcoming Congress.

The Electoral Committee headed by Marcel Bobb decided on the final day for submission of and eligibility of the electorate to exclude the four members based on them ‘not being in good standing’.

The deliberately delayed disclosure only served to confirm why the sport is in such disarray under the present administration since all the stops should have been taken to apprise the four affected members of their status and allow them the requisite time to fulfill the obligations to be in ‘good standing’.

Instead, the Electoral Committee, by its delay, only served to validate the suspicion of the opposing slate and many members of the public that it is in cohort with the incumbent.

The other harm that was done was to provide supporters of the sport with more evidence of why the game has not progressed following two full terms of Wayne Forde at the helm.

It clearly shows that the current executive, though profiting from a huge increase in FIFA funding, is either downright uncaring about the sport’s development locally or simply unqualified for the task.

They seem to be more focused on international participation since it allows them to travel extensively and mask their ineptness at the administrative level.

Nothing of consequence has been achieved in eight years of Wayne Forde’s stewardship, instead, there was a rapid decline in local competitions, very little infrastructural development, a huge dip in referees officiating in regional and international competitions and the list goes on.

The fixation of the Goal Project is a FIFA-approved developmental plan for all affiliated members and even that has failed to be completed by its intended timeline.

Forde has become the impediment to the development of football in Guyana there is little if any success to point to, and the truth be told, he has hampered the careers of many ambitious young ball weavers.

All Guyanese must understand the tactics of this official so that an informed judgment can be made on Saturday.

Just to allow the readers the opportunity to understand his deceit, the four debarred members were all permitted to vote at Congress for the past four years, they participated in the recent exercise to amend the constitution to support a three-term bid, while they were also allowed to play in the Elite League currently ongoing.

It simply means that they had to be in good standing to be eligible for all these GFF-approved activities so how now are they being deemed persona non grata for such an important endeavour?

Many believe that because Wilson’s slate enjoys the approval of all four, his chances of winning the election look good.

There is no other way to interpret the illegitimate actions of the Electoral Committee and that is why many concerned supporters of the sport are calling on the opposing slate to utilize every arm of the sport including CFU, CONCACAF, and even FIFA to address the issue.

Every entity that governs the sport should be appraised of this illegal act that has complicity, partiality, and total disregard for good governance written all over it.

We seem to be heading back into the dark days of football and this always occurs because of the greed of administrators and their thirst for power.

They are all the same, they preach about volunteerism and how much time it demands them to be away from family, but when the time comes for them to demit office, it is always selfish reasons that take precedence over sensible judgment.

They would rather see the game descend into disrepute than walk into the sunset with their heads held up high. There is no apparent concern for shame and tarnish of name; those stigmas are relegated to the past.

This peculiar conduct is rampant in Caribbean sports associations, and one would have thought previous examples of administrators being punished for acts of misconduct might have deterred them, instead, they continue to operate unbothered by the possibility of imminent consequences.

The possibility of Guyana’s football coming under the scrutiny of the world governing body once again is not farfetched if the concerns of the disqualified members are not satisfactorily resolved.

It is hoped that better sense prevails, and the four members benefit from the restoration of their voting rights so that the result will not be tarnished by claims of an unfair process.

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• Electoral Committee, FIFA, GFF ELECTIONS, Guyana Football Federation, Marcel Bobb

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