Paton George, the Vice President of the Lusignan Golf Club has resigned with immediate effect from the club’s executive committee in light of other executives denying knowledge of a patron indiscriminately discharging gunshots on Easter Sunday.
“I have resigned from the Executive Committee effective immediately. I can no longer in good conscience be a part of a committee run amok,” George yesterday wrote to members informing them of his decision.
Contacted, President of the Lusignan Golf Club Aleem Hussain, said he did not receive any correspondence from his vice president informing him of such decision.
He told Stabroek News last night that George’s term came to an end in December 2018 and his services were “terminated because of poor performance and not being able to act in the capacity he was in.”
While maintaining that George’s term came to an end in 2018, Hussain acknowledged that “we (the executive committee) asked him to stay on until we could have filled the position.”
Stabroek News learnt that there were no elections for office bearers in December 2018 and, as a result, the terms for members of the executive did not expire. It was further pointed out that no executive can be terminated if they were an elected member and they can only resign. This newspaper was further told that George, in December, had told the committee that he would resign because of the lack of transparency and with the club making no real effort to become transparent. Hussain reportedly asked him to stay on and George agreed but not in an “active” capacity, according to reports received by this newspaper.
Reports of a shooting at the lawns of the club surfaced on social media on Wednesday last and Hussain and one of the promoters of a private event that was held on the premises, denied having knowledge of it until it surfaced on social media. According to the information shared, a patron, who was heavily intoxicated, discharged several rounds in the presence of other persons.
A source told Stabroek News that the shooting occurred on Easter Sunday evening between 6:30 pm and 7 pm. At the time, the alleged shooter was drinking with his cousin.
George, in his statement to the members yesterday, said, “The situation that occurred over the Easter weekend is very serious and while I do not support over persecution for what appears to be a serious (lapse) of judgment due in part to the overconsumption of alcohol, I believe some form of punishment was in order.”
“The story of the shooting was conveyed to me as fact. Now, in the aftermath, nobody knows anything. That is bad enough, but to further add insult to injury by continuing with business as usual is insulting to the general membership,” George said in his correspondence.
His account makes him the first member of the executive to admit to a shooting incident at the club, allegedly by a patron who is a licensed firearm holder.
George added that the firing of a firearm “during a religious celebration is stupid, disrespectful and dangerous. We need to run this organisation as a golf club in keeping with the spirit of the game.”
“Now I see what amounts to a celebration of another ‘successful’ golf tournament and the …same individual who fired gun shots off at our club (participating). This amounts to madness,” George wrote.
Hussain, last night disclosed that the police have launched an investigation and visited the club premises as part of their probe.
He said that to date, no official report in writing was made to him or the executives of the club by any member and the police were acting on reports of the shooting on social media.
During his interview last night with this newspaper, he suggested that if persons are failing to provide statements, they are either lying or using this newspaper to foster their own agenda.
“With (so many) people at the event, you are telling me nobody can come forward and give an eyewitness recount? I wish someone can come and this is the facts… all we are hearing are rumours,” Hussain said.
Efforts to contact Crime Chief Lyndon Alves last night for an update on the police investigation proved futile.
