“Football elections were rigged!”…Liburd camp claims
By L.K. Hewlett
Editor- SKNVibes.com
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Ian ‘Patches’ Liburd, presidential candidate
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Basseterre, St. Kitts – THE internal elections of the St. Kitts Nevis Football Association executive body turned into a very public fiasco last Thursday (July 24) when accusations led to physical altercations at the new Football House located on Lozack Road.
Although the elections were meant to elect the entire executive body, the key post being contested was that of SKNFA president and saw past president Peter Jenkins and Ian ‘Patches’ Liburd vying for the position.
Jenkins won the football presidential election by a wide margin of 23-1, but the brawl before the voting led to the police being summoned and several members of the FA storming out of the building.
Franklin Maitland, a member of Liburd’s team, told SKNVibes.com that based on certain irregularities they perceived, the elections “were rigged from the beginning”.
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Franklin Maitland
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“The first strange thing we noticed when we got there is that there was a lot of security in the building, from outside leading to the top floor. I’ve never been to any general meeting and experienced this. We’ve had very tight election races before but the chairman has always been in control.
We had heard that there would be tight security in place because they were anticipating something, I don’t know based on what but it may be that they were planning to create mischief and had put measures in place to counteract it,” Maitland said.
Another point of consternation, according to Maitland, was the fact that representatives from several defunct football clubs were present to vote in the elections. Maitland contended that since those clubs had been virtually disbanded, having no players and having been absent from participating in the football league for several years, it was against the FA’s constitution for them to vote. He added that those clubs had not paid the mandatory club dues to the FA in the years leading up to the election but were now declared ‘active’ for the sole purpose of voting, another violation of the organization’s constitution.
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Police on scene
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“Shortly after the meeting got underway, two honorary members of the FA challenged four members of the management team, Mikey Dunrod, Vernon Springer, Troy ‘Spuddy’ Hendrickson and Dexter Tyrell on the basis that they had vacated their positions by not showing up to three or more consecutive meetings without giving notice. After we asked for clarification on the matter, Jenkins said that the men had abandoned the association. A member of our team rose and said it seemed to be an orchestrated attack against members that do not support Jenkins; he denied it and deferred the matter,” Maitland recounted. He admitted that members of Liburd’s team exited the facility and chose not to vote in the proceedings which clearly could not fare well for them.
Other issues that were matters of debate at the meeting were whether management members were allowed to vote and not just member clubs, allegations that persons who were designated to represent certain clubs in the voting had been replaced and the audited accounts of the FA.
The FA elections are held every four years and 2008 marked Jenkins’ 5th term in office as the organization’s president.
~~Adz:Right~~
