Warri boss declares association ‘not dead’

The Antigua and Barbuda Warri Association (ABWA) is not dead despite facing numerous constitutional challenges.
This is according to head of the organisation, Joel Carr, who admitted that the body is not as vibrant as it once was but still playing its part in the development of the game.
“The Warri Association is not as vibrant as it ought to be and as I would have envisioned it to be but it is not sleeping. The warri association does have some challenges at this time but we do go to different places on invitation including schools, the museum, church groups so the Warri Association is out there functioning,” he said. 
Carr said that establishing a quorum during general membership meetings has proven difficult as most members are no longer functioning. This he said, is as a result of the constitution allowing individuals to register and vote on the night of elections.
“You would know going into elections in the past you would have what is considered padding of the voters list and what that does is create such a high number on paper so far as membership that when it is time to establish a quorum for a meeting these people are really non-functional so they don’t show up to meetings because they were just on the list to vote. So, now it becomes a problem to establish a quorum for meetings and that has been a problem for us and because of the weakness of the constitution in addressing a lot of these issues,” the president said.
The executive, Carr revealed, also faces its own challenges so far as maintaining a steady quorum is concerned.
“Presently the executive comprises of five persons and if you do the math, five out of nine is needed for a quorum so we are actually razor thin so far as establishing an executive. We would have had the resignation of the treasurer and one floor member, those would have been in the persons of Mr. Charlesworth Grant as a floor member and Mr. Elton Ryan as the treasurer,” he said.
One other executive member, Belgrove Gregory, also left the organisation through resignation.
The Warri Association has been plagued with internal wrangling with one member and former president, Trevor Cranston, criticising the current executive in the past for not hosting regular general meetings.
Carr said efforts are being made to rectify the issues facing the organisation.