By Iva Wharton
Shiv Nandalall was yesterday returned unopposed as president of the Guyana Chess Federation (GFC) after that body held its Annual General Meeting and election of officer bears at the Guyana Olympic Association building on High Street.
Nandalall ran unopposed after Roy Sharma respectfully declined nomination.
Nandalall, in his speech as president, told the members that he was pleased to be given a second chance adding that he will continue to work in the interest of the development of the sport.
Nandalall’s entire executive was re-elected.
Irshad Mohamed will continue as vice president and tournament director, Omar Shariff as treasurer, Alex Joseph as trainer and Vishnu Rampersaud as secretary.
David Khan will be in charge of fund raising.
The three committee members are Ryan Singh, Ronald Roberts and Krishnandan Raghunandan.
The election was not without controversy as Rashad Hussain, a member of the GFC last year, in an interview with this publication said that he was there to stop what he considered an illegal proceeding. Hussain, could not stop or make any representation at the AGM nor participate in the election because the security personnel was given orders not to allow him entry into the compound.
He also alleges that though he was an executive member of the GCF he was not informed and was not given an opportunity to sanction any decision and as such, yesterday’s proceedings were illegal.
Hussain is currently on a one-year ban from competing in any tournaments sanctioned by the GCF.
“Based on the disqualification and my defence they banned me from chess and from any activities sanctioned by the GCF for 12 months. After reviewing the constitution there is nothing that states that they could do that and they said that it was based on the FIDE Laws of Chess. However, nowhere in the FIDE Laws of Chess did it say that could happen,” Hussain argued.
Hussain said that he intendeds to seek redress in Court and that based on his lawyer’s opinion, he stands a good chance of having the ban rescinded.
Hussain also said that the possibility exists that he will be moving to file an injunction to restrain the executive from functioning.
