Monrovia – The president of Liberia Basketball Association (LBA) Rufus Anderson says the long-awaited election of the Association will take place on November on 29, 2019.
Stakeholders of Basketball have complained for months that Anderson was not willing to take the body to election. This they claimed is responsible for the “downfall” of the country’s second popular sport.
In a conversation with FrontPageAfrica Sports Desk, Anderson confirmed that the election will go on as plan at the headquarters of LBA on Broad Street.
He said detailed information about the election’s guidelines will soon be sent to stakeholders and media institutions.
Mr. Jarius J. Harris, Financial Secretary of LBA, also confirmed that they have informed stakeholders of the upcoming election.
The Communication to the stakeholders reads, “The administration of the Liberia Basketball Association (LBA) is pleased to inform you through this medium that General Assembly and elections of new corps of officials will take place on Friday, November 29, 2019, at the Sports Commission on Broad Street.”
“In view of the above, you are requested to visit the financial office of the LBA in order to make full settlement and payment of all financial obligations to avoid exclusion of your team from the officials listing of qualified teams for the pending LBA General Assembly and elections in keeping with Article XIII, section three (3), which states: Only current executive committee members and active club presidents in good financial standing with the LBA should have the right to vote and stand for election.”
Financial obligations for the election include unsettled transfer and related fees and fines for games forfeited, FIBA Africa debts among others.
Meanwhile, the deadlines for settling all financial obligations is today, Friday, November 8, at 12:00PM
In response to the Association’s letter to stakeholders, some stakeholders, who are aggrieved, said LBA is not going by its constitutions and that November 29, 2019, scheduled date for the elections is a breach of constitution.
“Your letter sent out on Tuesday, 29th of October 2019 with the headline Memorandum #02 directly to the participating teams in the Liberia Basketball Association (LBA) 2019 National League has been received.
“In the first line of the letter, you addressed the letter to participating teams. We would like to know the names of all participating teams in the 2019 National League through written communication. Also in your first paragraph, you stated that Congress and Elections are scheduled for November 29, 2019. This action is a breach of the constitution of the Liberia Basketball Association.
“In Article XII, Section 4 which scribes and ‘The General Assembly is the highest decision-making body and shall meet at least once a year to view progress reports and other issues that affect the smooth running of basketball in Liberia.’ Mr. President, you made mention in your communication that the General Assembly will be held on the same day of the elections on November 29, 2019. The foreseen problem is that congress documentation has not been sent out to the team presidents and owners. We have not seen an agenda of the proposed General Assembly and it is highly unlikely that we can have both very important events done on the same day,” the aggrieved party told the basketball leadership.
The LBA leadership is yet to respond to the stakeholders’ concern as of this publication.
It can be recalled that the LBA in late September 2019 fined each of its registered teams that refused to honor their games during the association’s big six competition L$50,000 but the amount was reduced to L$10,000 through the intervention of the Youth and Sports Ministry.
According to a reliable source, the association president has refused to accept the L$10,000 fine payment and is requesting each of the teams involved to pay L$30,000 but stakeholders whose teams are involved in the matter, are insisting on only paying the L$10,000 agreed between them and the LBA in presence of officials of the Youth and Sports Ministry.
The stakeholders are saying that they can only pay $10,000LD each as required by the association constitution and not 30,000 as demanded by the LBA leadership.
According to the association rules, if a team forfeit or withdraw from the league that the team should pay 10,000 LD before it can be allowed to take part in any LBA activity but the association
Several teams from the first, second, third and female divisions attributed their refusal to honor their big six games due to the heavy downpour of rain in Monrovia.
