All things come to an end. At an Extraordinary General Meeting to deal with the affairs of cycling in Guyana, the Guyana Cycling Federation (GCF) was dissolved at Olympic House on Wednesday and will now be replaced by a nine member Interim Management Committee.
The federation, who inherited office in March this year under the governance of Horace Burrowes was brought before the rod following the circulation of a petition which expressed the cyclists’ distain in the way the Federation was handling the affairs. In excess of 50 persons had signed the petition.
At the Extraordinary Meeting, a total of nine clubs were present while notably absent were Team Cocos and We Stand United. The clubs present at the Meeting included Alanis Cycling Club, Carlton Wheelers Cycling Club, Continental Cycling Club, Evolution Cycling Club, Flying Ace Cycling Club, Flying Stars Cycling Club, Linden Bauxhall Flyers, Trojan Cycling Club and Roraima Cycling Club.
Horace Burrowes, President of the dissolved Guyana Cycling Federation
According to Carlton Wheelers Cycling Club’s Malcolm Sonaram, the meeting was called specifically to deal with the motion to dissolve the Federation and was presented by former member of the federation, Andrew Arjoon of Evolution Cycling Club while being second by Sonaram.
It was revealed that according to the governing law, in order to be eligible to vote members must be financially correct of which was reflected by all clubs. Further, there must be a 5/6th Majority ruling to have their request sanctioned and it was disclosed that all nine clubs present at the meeting and eligible to vote, voted for the dissolution of the Federation.
This in turn effectively dissolved the Federation which gave rise to the Interim Management Committee where Sonaram suggested that the IMC feature a representative from each club rather than a selected few.
According to Sonaram, this will provide transparency and accountability especially in decision making and financial situations.
When Guyana Times Sport contacted a number of cyclists, there were mixed feelings about the move ranging from a directionless approach, a replacement of the same ideologies and a step in the right direction.
Meanwhile, it was highlighted that a number of reasons had lead to the buildup of the motion including the handling of funds, the governance from overseas, lack of timely meetings among other managerial issues.
Consequently, the IMC intends to deal with a number of issues in need of immediate attention including Constitutional reform, inclusive governance, and setting of the next annual General Meeting but there is still to be the decision of who will represent the clubs on the Committee. Also suggested to be a perception of biasness was the issue that a parent of a cyclist should not be on the executive committee as well as an active cyclist should not be eligible for an executive position.
Sonaram informed this publication that there is still a space for the two absent teams to be present and actually work along with the other clubs to help better the sport. It is expected that there will be a next meeting where further developments will be made.
