– dormant state of GABF hindering the sport in a major way
The dormancy of the Godwin McPherson-led Guyana Amateur Basketball Federation (GABF) has now caught the attention of Minister of Sports Dr. Frank Anthony who is calling for the governing body of local basketball to be revived.
Speaking at the opening of the National Schools Basketball Festival (NSBF) on Sunday, Minister Anthony said that the dormant state of the GABF was hindering the development of the sport in a major way.
“For the sport of basketball to reach higher heights in this country, the federation has to play an active role. They have not held elections since 2005 and this has caused some serious setbacks with the sport…so I think that the time has come for the federation to be resuscitated because they are hindering the development of the game.”
Dr. Anthony added that his ministry was willing to facilitate the restoration drive of the GABF once called upon.
McPherson became president of the GABF in 1991 and has been in power since.
In several of the GABF elections he has been unopposed with the last two notable occasions being in 2002 and 2005.
In 2007, the GABF was due to hold its Annual General Meeting (AGM) but the constitution was amended to allow the president to remain in office for four years.
This had caused some amount of controversy within the sport and saw then Linden Amateur Basketball Association (LABA) secretary Joe Chapman and former Georgetown Basketball Amateur Association (GABA) president Chris Bowman, calling for the GABF to hold its election in June last year.
They argued that changing of the constitution was done in secret and was not to be recognised.
However, Bowman was removed and replaced by fashion designer Trevor Rose last year while Chapman did not find favour with the clubs in Linden to put him on the executive of their new association which came into being earlier this month.
Since then, the issue of the GABF elections seems to have been placed on the back-burner.
The McPherson-led GABF had come under intense public scrutiny this year during the GABF’s bid to host the Caribbean Basketball Confederation (CBC) Championship which got started on Sunday in the British Virgin Islands (BVI).
The GABF had announced its intention of hosting the championships which were last held in Guyana in 1994 and Director of Sport Neil Kumar had also extended the government’s commitment to ensure the games return to its original venue.
But negotiations between the two parties fell short after the CBC had asked the GABF to get a letter of commitment signed by either the Guyana Olympic Association (GOA) or the Government of Guyana stating their willingness to facilitate the games.
The letter never materialized and McPherson was severely criticized by the local media and some of the players.
He, however stated that the high cost factor that surrounded hosting the tournament was the principal reason for Guyana not going ahead with plans to host the tournament.
Guyana is not being represented at this year’s tournament and the date of the next GABF AGM is still unknown as efforts by Stabroek Sport to contact McPherson came up empty handed.
