JAS delegates lists under the microscope

Allegations of a “very flawed” delegates’ lists are among the thorny issues that the independent review panel appointed by Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Mining Floyd Green will have to untangle, en route to coming up with recommendations for the long overdue 126th annual general meeting (AGM) and presidential election of the Jamaica Agricultural Society (JAS).

JAS President Lenworth Fulton told The Gleaner that the delegates’ lists submitted by various associations of branch societies of the JAS had been compromised by rogue employees.

“We have to move the electoral process to another level because, currently, we cannot control the election because there are players that are in it, that should not be and we have to clean that up. Some people are very angry that we didn’t go through with the July 12 annual general meeting but I see myself as a quality control manager for the JAS, being the president, and I have seen a delegates’ list that was flawed and very flawed too,” he disclosed.

“It has too much involvement of my own staff. They are playing a role that they should not be. A lady told me that one of my own staff members called and told her who to vote for. So, when I cancelled this AGM, people might be wondering but I have a lot more information than the average person on the street,” Fulton insisted. “We have a letter from the St Elizabeth Association of Branch Societies contending that their president (Bridget Powell) did not see the delegates’ list. What this meant was the staff made up the list of delegates who are eligible to vote and sent it off to the head office without the president of their ABS having any input at all in its composition.”

Larry Robertson, board member and president of the Portland Association of Branch Societies, was also left in the dark about the list from his parish, according to Fulton.

Independent review panel

Green has since appointed a five-member independent review panel to investigate the electoral process and come up with recommendations for a resolution, within six to eight weeks. He described a meeting with all parties vying for offices as positive, where they all outlined their grouses, after which it was agreed that they would cooperate with the review panel and adhere to its findings and recommendations. The committee, he said, has been mandated to look into all of the issues that have been raised regarding the electoral procedure, go through them and identify the various challenges.

“Clearly, I impressed upon them that, for an organisation of this nature where the vast majority of people who interact with it are volunteers, we have to see if we can come up with some amicable solution. So, the focus now is on Denbigh and trying to ensure that we can have the best show and then hopefully, by the end of August, early September, we can sit back around the table and see if we can come up with recommendations on the way forward.”

The 126th AGM was constitutionally due to be held in 2021 to coincide with the end of the three-year term of Fulton, First Vice-President Denton Alvaranga and Second Vice-President Owen Dobson, who took office in 2018.

However, it was first stalled by a case brought against the JAS and its board of directors by the Westmoreland Association of Branch Societies seeking to have the nomination for election of officers reopened.

However, the injunction filed by Trevor Bernard, president of the Small Ruminants Association of Jamaica, on the Tuesday afternoon before the planned July 12 AGM, forced the cancellation.

christopher.serju@gleanerjm.com