Table tennis discontent persists

TABLE TENNIS stakeholders are restive about the failure of the Jamaica Table Tennis Association (JTTA) president, Andrew Lue, to resolve several longstanding issues before the upcoming special general meeting (SGM) and his ultimate departure.

Chief among stakeholders’ concerns is the lack of the association’s annual audited account for the three years of Lue’s tenure and the absence of an affiliate list, which will guide the process of who attends the SGM.

According to several stakeholders, requests to get the list of affiliates from the JTTA’s executive have been futile, which could lead to many who believe they are bona fide affiliates being barred from the SGM.

In a different communiqué circulated to stakeholders recently, Lue indicated his intention to step away from the presidency of the association at the next annual general meeting (AGM); while the JTTA advised that a SGM will be held on February 7 for affiliates to pave the way for that AGM.

In a subsequent interview with The Gleaner, Lue indicated that the constitutionally stipulated audited financial reports would not be ready before the SGM or the AGM. He stated that at the SGM, affiliates will decide whether to keep the AGM without the financial report or wait for it to be prepared.

Stakeholders are, however, upset that after three years in office, Lue’s administration has yet to provide the audited financial report of any of the years during which it was elected to guide the affairs of the association. Some have indicated a readiness to bring the matter to the courts.

“They need to give us account statements for their time in office. If they can’t do that, they must say we got a situation where the JTTA owed X million, and we operated and brought it down or increased the debt. They must give us a balance sheet.

LEGAL IMPLICATIONS

“There are legal implications with the position that Lue is taking. JTTA is a public body, and there are legal procedures in that regard,” said Portland Table Tennis Association president Samuel Lamont.

President of Angels Table Tennis Academy, Richard Davidson, added: “We want to know the company doing the audited financial statements because if he tells us that, we can work with him, but if he cannot tell us that, he will not be allowed to step away just like that. It has to be presented.”

The lack of audited financial statements has been a contentious issue for the JTTA since last year when Lue’s first two-year term as president should have ended. The absence of the financial statements postponed the voting AGM, with Lue remaining in office while missing several deadlines to present these documents.

Meanwhile, stakeholders, many longstanding affiliates of the JTTA, fear they will be barred from attending the SGM. This stems from one of the messages circulated, which advised that only “qualified” affiliates would be allowed to participate.

Stakeholders are, however, baffled about their affiliate qualification, with the executive not providing the list. Some stated that they queried the process after not being allowed to participate in an SGM last year and have been unsuccessful in getting a response from the executive.

“We can’t have an AGM, and up to now, the sheet with the affiliates is not provided. We don’t know who the affiliates are. We don’t know if we are an affiliate and if we ever were. These are my concerns. At the SGM last year, several longstanding clubs were prevented from attending,” said Samuel Grant, president of the Kingston and St Andrew Table Tennis Association (KSATA).

“We cannot get an official list, and even worse, we can’t just pay on thin air, and there is no correspondence for affiliates to make payments,” said Lamont, who, like Grant, was barred from the SGM last year.

Yesterday, efforts to contact Lue proved futile.