Commander of police ‘A’ Division Clifton Hicken was elected President of the Georgetown Football Association (GFA) yesterday, defeating former Guyana Football Federation (GFF) President Christopher Matthias for the post.
At the GFA’s electoral congress held at the Sleepin International Hotel, the veteran lawman prevailed over Matthias 8-2 in an election conducted under the slate system and witnessed by Normalization Committee (NC) Chairman Clinton Urling, General-Secretary Diedre Davis as well as NC member Tariq William.
With the win, Hicken’s slate will form the new executive committee of the GFA. In a brief address following his victory, he thanked the general council for electing him to office and said the association will strive to ensure that its business is conducted in a transparent and accountable manner. He added that the new executive plans to work in the interest of all the clubs as he does not want obstacles to be created between them and the association.
NC chairman Clinton Urling congratulated the new executive on being elected to office even as he pointed out that the issues which have been plaguing the sport, at the association and federation level, have stemmed from off the field.
He said the GFA should not view itself simply as an independent body from the federation, but part of a system that is in place to help in the development of sport. He urged all the relevant stakeholders to work together to accomplish this task.
Nominated by Police FC, the other members of the winning slate are Vice President Aaron Fraser, Vice President Frank Parris, Vice President Charles Greaves, General Secretary Althea Scipio and Assistant Secretary/Treasurer Lloyd Millington. The slate did not nominate anyone for the secretary position.
On the other hand, the defeated slate comprised of Vice President nominees Mark Phillips, Akram Sabree, and Stephen Joseph, General Secretary nominee Adepemo Peters, Treasurer nominee Aduke Woolford and Assistant Secretary/Treasurer nominee Charmine Wade.
The clubs that exercised their franchise were Western Tigers, Police FC, Santos FC, Black Pearl FC, Houston Stars, Riddim Squad, Northern Rangers, Beacons FC, Sunburst Camptown and Flamingo. Each club was allowed one vote.
The election, however, was not without its now traditional controversy as the Matthias slate declined to take part in the process and exited the congress after questioning the voting legitimacy of several of the clubs.
The walkout occurred after Matthias and the members of his slate queried why several clubs would be allowed to vote by the NC who acted as the Electoral Committee, despite allegedly not meeting the stipulated GFA constitutional requirements.
Despite the walkout, the election went ahead with Hicken emerging victorious by a comfortable margin.
In an invited comment following the election, Matthias recalled that a letter from the GFA signed by then acting President Lavern Fraser Thomas, was sent to the GFF, Member Associations and clubs with regards to eligibility for participating in the congress.
“Today it was inquired and the GFF said everyone was allowed to participate fully in the congress. We enquired what was the minimum requirements for clubs to participate in the congress and the NC could not state what those minimum requirements were,” he said.
“They were some clubs that fulfilled requirements and…some who didn’t do anything including the club that nominated my compatriot Commander Hicken despite the repeated efforts from the GFA to have them fully constituted,” he alleged.
According to Matthias, “upon learning that those clubs who didn’t fulfil any requirements would still be allowed to vote, members of my slate would not lend legitimacy to illegitimacy, legality to illegality, constitutionality to unconstitutionality and we decided (to) not participate in the congress. We indicated that we objected and question the constitutionality of the whole process,” he said.
“When a club not in good standing with the GFA would have nominated, that nomination ought to have been null and void. Moreover, none other than the NC chairman stated that if the GFA is not in order by the time of the GFF elections, it would not be eligible to participate in the congress,” he added.
“They have been shifting the goal-posts, there is one standard at the GFF level and one at the GFA level depending on the context, content and circumstance,” he declared.
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