Elections have to wait – Lothian

President of the Jamaica Table Tennis Association (JTTA), Godfrey Lothian, said the long-delayed annual general meeting (AGM) and election rerun is currently still nowhere in sight, as the coronavirus pandemic continues to wreak havoc on the world's sports.

"Right now we can't have any elections, neither here or there, because social gathering is not permitted. We have a pending election, and we are supposed to put out the 2018 audit report and get everything ready for when that time comes. But nobody knows when that time will be. I am seeing that (elections) way down the road, and we will have to engage the membership to see the best way," he said.

Outstanding matters

He proposed that the organisation first have a special general meeting and address outstanding matters.

"We are reaching out (to members) not to discuss table tennis, but to find out how people are coping. We will have a general meeting if we are to still have an election, to know what to do at a particular time and how we go about it. We plan to have our June meeting with the different membership and carve a clear path forward, and reconcile the organisation and the pending elections," he said.

In 2019, the Supreme Court upheld a claimed filed by losing presidential candidate Karen Lym, who insisted that Lothian's organisation, its constitution, and the process used to determine the election of officers in that year were illegitimate. As a result, the federation, its president and executives and constitution were ruled null and void by the court, opening the doors for fresh elections.

But elections have been delayed since because Lothian's administration failed to produce an audited report, which he claimed was almost completed when the pandemic broke in March. However, he said the post-coronavirus issues are growing and they demand much attention.

"I don't know if we are that stage where we can keep an election Because people have lost their jobs, including table tennis people in different field. So the first thing is to see how administrators and members are coping in their respective communities. These are the issues," he said.