– Says Wayne Forde led executive disrespectful to members

By Calvin Chapman

THE highly anticipated elections and congress of the Guyana Football Federation (GFF) that is slated for this Saturday at the National Training Center, Providence, has been engulfed in a cloud of controversy following a notice sent out last week that identified four members that are not in good standing. Although the notice did not explicitly say that the members have not lost their voting rights, it is an insinuation.

Those members are:

1. West Demerara Football Association;

2. Guyana Police Force Football Club;

3. Western Tigers Football Club; and

4. Santos Football Club.

Coincidentally, those members are all supporters of the Franklin Wilson led slate that will be the only opposition to the incumbent head; Wayne Forde’s slate.
Santos’ President is the second vice-president of Wilson’s slate, that club along with Western Tigers and Guyana Police Force are part of the GFF KFC’s Elite League Cup competition.

Wilson and Ramesh Persaud (Santos’ President) during an interview yesterday with Chronicle Sport, expressed their feeling of disenfranchisement.
However, Wilson revealed that he was not surprised by the recent development to disenfranchise members and he has written FIFA, the Caribbean Football Union (CFU) and the Guyana Olympic Association (GOA) to express his concerns.
“We have encountered a few road blocks but we are dealing with it in a constructive way. We do not intend to attack anybody but we have to standup for ourselves”, Wilson stated.

Wilson believes that the current GFF administration does not have respect for its members and when respect is lacking, there will always be acrimony. The alleged current culture of disrespect is part of what he intends to discard if he is elected come this Saturday.
Thus far, Wilson highlighted, his slate has met with 14 members of the GFF to hear their views and what they would like to be done to increase the effectiveness of the governing body. Solidifying the slate’s stance of inclusivity.

Wilson, who served as acting head of the GFF in 2012, has a track record of good governance and inclusivity. During his last tenure, he explained that he had engaged all stakeholders and he was responsible for the Georgetown Football Association (GFA) getting back their voting rights.
When quizzed on how important support from all stakeholders including the Government is, Wilson was quick to assert the fact that sports need the support of government to reach higher heights.

“Government is an active and critical stakeholder in sport. Recently, the Guyana Government sponsored the entire contingent of athletes to compete at the IGG Games in Suriname and with record breaking budgets being passed for sports, it is a clear indicator that the Government is serious in developing sports locally.”
“The constitution is clear, all the members are legitimate,” Ramesh Persaud said.

“We believe that because we are in support of the Franklin Wilson slate, we have been specifically targeted. But we will remain steadfast because we still have our voting rights. The electoral committee has no jurisdiction to suspend any member,” Persaud highlighted.
When quizzed about some of the plans that their slate has when they enter into office, Persaud was inclined to say, “I can’t make any promises because currently the Wayne Forde administration is receiving conditional financing from FIFA. We want to reestablish transparency with an audit and create a good product for the fans and the corporate community.”