Edwards slams Burrowes, calls for approval from GCF General Assembly

Former president of the Guyana Cycling Federation (GCF), and current General Secretary of the Guyana Olympic Association (GOA), Hector Edwards, says approval from the GCF General Assembly is required for the federation to remain in office.

The GCF has not held elections in over a year, and the life of the current executive ended since last June.
This information, revealed on a social network platform, has seen Edwards, a former top cyclist in his prime for Guyana, disclosing that only the General Assembly can extend ‘the life’ of the current executives.
“The only way they can remain in office is if the General Assembly decides to extend ‘the life’ [of the executives] until a certain point in time,” Edwards explained. “If there is no such decision, then they should not be in office to run the interest of the federation. You can’t decide on your own to push back elections,” he added.
Horace Burrowes, elected President in 2015, has had a turbulent period at the helm, with the clubs trying to move a no-confidence motion against him; while there were several calls for the intervention of the world cycling body.
An interim body has been installed but the International Cycling Union (UCI), which has said it recognises Burrowes as the president until such time as fresh elections are held. Those elections, the UCI noted, were due by June of last year.
Pascale Schyns, International Relations Manager of the UCI, in a letter to Ms Gemma Williams, had said, “…to have a change of president, elections should be democratically called; and according to our Constitution and the Guyana Cycling Federation, the next one should take place in June 2018.
“Meanwhile, we suggest you talk with each other to find a solution to your internal problems.”
Recently, Burrowes has been on record as saying that conversations on the elections are “irrelevant at this time”. He also posited that the GCF is in “good standing with UCI”.
“The elections of the GCF are coming up, but I don’t think that is relevant at this time, and I think we will speak on this at a different time. The discussion could happen over the phone, when I return…I wouldn’t be hard to find,” Burrowes has said at a press conference.
Burrowes has also declared that he acts as the International Cycling Union (UCI) sees fit or mandates.
“I will say again: the GCF is in very good standing with the UCI, and the UCI is the world body and they control the federation or every international federation, and I do as UCI says and I go as our Constitution says, and if UCI says to do certain things, then I am doing as UCI says; so I am actually going to say I don’t think it is relevant for us to speak on that anymore in terms of the elections,” Burrowes said.
But Edwards slammed Burrowes for the comments. “All I would say right now is that that is sheer trash, because you cannot say you are not compliant with the local constitution but with UCI, when the local constitution is in accordance with UCI…so you’re inconsistent with your own constitution, but compliant with UCI? That’s just nonsense,” Edwards said, adding that he would like for Burrowes and his executives to point to the UCI constitution that they are compliant with.