– Munroe gets VP nod

ATTORNEY-at-law, K. A. Juman-Yassin,was returned unopposed for his sixth consecutive term as president of the Guyana Olympic Association (GOA), while Guyana Table Tennis Association (GTTA) president Godfrey Munroe will now take up a vice -president role in the executive.Yassin, who happily accepted, was elected to serve for another four years as the GOA’s head when the body held its Annual General Meeting (AGM) and election of office bearers yesterday at the GOA Liliendaal headquarters, which is still undergoing construction.
Munroe and Tricia Fietkou, who was elected in the newly installed position of Assistant Treasurer, were the only new faces on the eight member executive. Returning in their old positions were Karen Pilgrim and Charles Corbin as vice presidents; Hector Edwards as Secretary General, Garfield Wiltshire as Treasurer, and Dion Nurse as Assistant Secretary.
The most intensely contested position was that 0f vice president, which saw Munroe pulling off an upset over outgoing VP Noel Adonis. The position had a total of six nominations, the others being Guyana Boxing Association president, Steve Ninvalle, and baseball’s Robin Singh. GHB president Phillip Fernandes also received a nomination but respectfully declined.
Pilgrim received the most support, with 33 of the 43 voters wanting to see her return; Munroe followed with 27 votes and Corbin had 25 votes. Adonis managed to get the nod from 17 of the electors, while Singh had 14 and Ninvalle eight.
As for the VP position, each of the 43 electors was issued a ballot and allowed to vote for their top three choices.
Other unchallenged candidates were Edwards and Wiltshire. Guyana Badminton Association (GBA) president Gokarn Ramdhani was nominated for both the assistant secretary and assistant treasurer positions, but both times he declined. Against Fietkou,he received 13 votes, while Fietkou walked away with 29 votes.
Others who were nominated for positions but also declined included Guyana Football Federation president, Wayne Forde and Guyana Amateur Basketball Federation (GABF) President, Nigel Hinds.
The new executives was resoundingly congratulated by members of the audience after taking their seats at the head table. Giving a speech on returning, Yassin thanked all the Associations for continuing to believe in him, notwithstanding all the bad press that he has been receiving lately.
Leading up to the elections,calls for Yassin to be voted out intensified in certain sections of the media;Yassin also addressed this in his remarks.
“I really want to thank each member from each Association for re-electing me as president. I want to thank those several persons who advised me not to respond to all the malicious articles by two journalists of the Kaieteur News.
“I am by nature a fighter; I would like to respond, but if I respond to these people,next week something else would come up and things will always come up and soon you would probably get fed up of me responding,” Yassin expressed.
“I don’t mind criticism but when you go down to being disrespectful I draw a line there.” He continued
The returning officer for yesterday’s GOA elections was Mark Bender.