Voting Delegate Seeking Elections to Be Overturned
Nassau, Bahamas - (Statement) In an unprecedented move in the
history of the sport of local gymnastics, one of the voting delegates is
seeking to have the results overturned and is calling the conduct of the
elections “a travesty of democracy”.
Bahamas Gymnastics Parent Booster Club who is one of two member clubs
under the Gymnastics Federation of the Bahamas is claiming irregularities in
the electoral process.
BGPBC’s first argument is that
the incumbent President was given a casting ballot to decide the outcome of the
election. Romell Knowles,
secretary-general of the Bahamas Olympic Committee, who moderated the election
insisted that it is the norm in elections of other federations and sporting
entities to allow the President to use a casting vote to break a tie. BGPBC objected during the elections that
casting votes are not permitted “in an election” scenario but Knowles overrode
the objection.
The GFB’s Constitution allows for
a second round of voting in the event of a tie and is silent on how the tie is
to be broken. Knowles and BGPBC agreed
that Roberts Rule of Order govern how the tie was to be broken but disagreed
that the President had a casting vote ”in an election”. Knowles and Cora
Hepburn who is a member of the BOC and the incumbent Vice President insisted
that it is the norm in other sporting federations and clubs for the tie to be
broken by the President in their experience.
BGPBC contends that no executives
are allowed to vote in an election so for Knowles to transfer voting power to
an incumbent executive “runs afoul of everything sacred in democracy”. Knowles
and Hepburn should know this fact as members of the Bahamas Olympic Committee
as the International Olympic Committee has mandated that executives not be
allowed to vote in any general election.
All local federations were mandated to comply without exception.
Incumbent president Barbara
Thompson was first handed the casting ballot by Knowles who in turn passed the
ballot to Cora Hepburn the incumbent VP and a member of her slate to choose the
President. Hepburn chose Thompson as
President and the ballot was passed back to Thompson to select the remaining
members of the Executive Committee. Thompson chose Lenise Flowers as
Secretary-General from BGPBC’s slate of nominees. Cora Hepburn as Vice President and Renee Moore
from Thompson’s own slate were hand picked by her to complete the executive
committee. Flowers immediately declined the position of Secretary-General.
“Watching this transfer of power
from General Assembly members to executives was stomach wrenching and sickening,”
offered a member of BGPBC who attended.
“If we are wrong on our interpretation of Roberts Rule at the end of the
day, we will be the first to admit to it and apologize for creating a tempest
in a tea cup but if we are proven right, we will fight for justice and equity
on behalf of athletes in our sport and other disciplines to ensure that this
course of behavior is never repeated especially when it violates so many tenets
of fairness”
Amidst BGPBC’s strong and obvious
clear objections, Knowles offered both clubs to expand the Executive Committee
by four positions to allow for more parity.
BGPBC and Nassau gymnastics agreed to amend the Constitution and the
positions of First Vice-President, Asst. Secretay-General, Asst. Treasurer and
Council Member were added. Other members of the BGPBC slate agreed to fill the
positions. Dr. Tracy Roberts-Halkitis filled the post of First Vice-President,
Nicola Thompson as asst-Treasurer and Rufus Swann as Council Member. Nassau Gymnastiscs would announce asst-
Secretary-General at a later date.
BGPBC also questioned whether
Nassau Gymnastics was in financial standing per the Constitution to vote in the
elections. Barbara Thompson gave the
assurance that they were after consulting with Nikita Thompson-Wells, the
outgoing Treasurer. Thompson-Wells’
financial report was wrought with so many errors that an Extraordinary General
Meeting has been set in two weeks for the report to be retabled. BGPBC’s viewed that since the financials were
so flawed, the possibility that the eligibility of Nassau Gymnastics as a
member in good financial standing is questionable. Ahead of the elections,
BGPBC questioned whether NN was in good financial standing to even be permitted
to nominate a slate of candidates. The
question was never addressed and so when raised at the meeting, the response
given was affirmative but doubt remains as the report tabled by Thompson-Wells
reflected a non-payment by NN. The report covered the period to August 31.
In 2012 elections, BGPBC was faced with a
similar scenario. They questioned after
the elections whether dues were paid by Nassau Gymnastics based on suspicions
raised from the financials tabled at the 2012 Annual General Meeting. It was later confirmed that BGPBC’s
suspicions were not unfounded when the Treasurer tabled the report that NN was
not current and therefore not eligible to vote during those elections but BGPBC
in the spirit of good will did not seek to have those elections overturned.
Over the course of the years since its admission in GFB’s memberships, BGPBC
has given up many rights with the hopes of achieving better cooperation in the
sport.
BGPBC is questioning another
action on Knowles’ part. The
Constitution gives members the right to request inspection of the financial
books and records at any meeting. BGPBC
made a submission ahead of the AGM but the records were not made
available. Knowles injected that the
request was setting a “dangerous precedence”.
BGPBC objected that it is a constitutional right but Knowles pushed that
an audit or review should be requested if the work of the Treasurer could not
be trusted. He further pushed his point
that the course of action by BGPBC would discourage people from serving in a
volunteer capacity as many have busy lives and commitments.
Earlier this year, BGPBC found it
necessary to report the GFB’s Executive Committee to the Federation of
International Gymnastics (FIG) for irregularities. Amongst the reported issues were failure to
hold AGMs as none were held since 2012, failure to submit regular Minutes of
Meetings Held and failure to table financial statements (none tabled for more
than a year and half). In 2014, BGPBC reported these matters to BOC but there
was not action taken. After BGPBC submitted their concerns to FIG, the BOC was
contacted by the world governing body to oversee resolution of the matters. BOC
gave assurances that the matters could be resolved internally.
Based on past experience with the
GFB’s elections and strained relations between the GFB and BGPBC, the club
requested election monitoring by FIG.
“We ought to be able to trust
that individuals reposed with the duty of public trust and confidence would be
objective in the exercise of their duties. We are deeply saddened that since
2012, we find it difficult to place our confidence and trust in the
administration of the sport of gymnastics based on our experience. This ought not to be if the focus is truly on
the athletes. We suspect that the cry
from the GFB would be that we should be celebrating the accomplishments of
sending gymnasts off to the World Championships and we do. We celebrate all levels of achievement in
this sport and any others. Achievements
and accomplishments do not and should never be an excuse for not conducting
sports administration with integrity.”
BGPBC hopes that the
irregularities of Saturday’s elections are quickly and properly addressed for
the betterment of the sport and for the athletes.
“America sent astronauts to the
moon but still had to deal with civil rights issues on planet Earth and they
continue to do so. We have sent gymnasts
off to the World Championships but unless we address the cancer of entitlements
and partiality in our midst, we will face greater challenges and hurdles to
improving the sports”.
Copy of Constitution of Gymnastics Federation of the Bahamas also attached below: