DAVID Patterson is the new president of the Guyana Amateur Basketball Federation (GABF). He was confirmed in the position – having acted since the death of long-serving president Colonel (Ret.) Godwin McPherson last year – when the federation held its annual general meeting and elections at Olympic House on Sunday. Patterson was able to place on board a team which he carefully put together, despite obviously not gaining the support of the Georgetown Amateur Basketball Association (GABA) whose president Trevor Rose he beat to the position by a 5-2 score.
The voting was open to members of the GABA, Linden Amateur  Basketball Association (LABA)  and Berbice Amateur  Basketball Association (BABA)  along with the Masters Association and the Women’s Basketball Association.
Each member was entitled to two votes with the GABA, LABA and Masters having the allotted number of representatives with the BABA and Women’s body having only one representative.
The result was obvious from the outset, and from the nominations, despite one person among the lot not supporting the team after first abstaining.
From the slate of individuals presented Patterson was able to secure solid support from the LABA, BABA, Masters and Women’s arm generally.
This was because only the GABA was outspoken, stating that it was not convinced that Patterson was the man for the job.
Apart from Patterson, and Floyd Levi who was elected unopposed as vice-president (Operations) having previously held the vice-president (Discipline) position, no other member of the new team has sat on this body before. Ms Dawn Holder in her absence was also elected to serve as vice-president (Discipline), without any opposition. Michael Burnett was then elected without a contest for the position of vice-president (Public Relations), a position previously held by Colin Aaron who resigned last year.
The new General Secretary position was taken by Ian Lafargue who was able to secure a 5-3 score over Eon Andrews who was elected as assistant secretary and had taken over as acting secretary last year.
The treasurer elected unopposed was Khemraj Gooberdhan who  was absent but had sent a letter indicating his willingness to serve while the assistant secretary is  Berbice’s Kurt Fraser who won by a 5-3 vote which stands  to reason that one of the Masters’  representatives was not in favour of the Patterson team.
The Technical Adviser post was won by Abdulla Hamid of LABA by a 5-2 majority over Eon Andrews.
Patterson in his speech after the elections, presided over by Attorney-At-Law K. Juman-Yassin, said, he will endeavour to work with everyone for the betterment of the sport.” He thanked all for the support given to him and his team and promised that during his tenure persons will see the provision for all stakeholders to have “a meaningful say” in the promotion of the game.