Shoddy Work, BPL Assembly Adjourned

FREDERICK KEBADIRETSE
Staff Writer | Monday July 26, 2010 00:00

 

The meeting came to a stall immediately as the incumbent Premier League chairperson, Mokganedi 'Mike' Molefe, asked the delegates to adopt the agenda, which included, among others, a report by the BPL general manager, Setete Phuthego, and appointment of a new committee by the league's board of governors.

A large portion of the delegates that included team chairpersons and publicity secretaries would not adopt the agenda demanding a full audited financial reports and minutes from the previous assembly.

The delegates, led by former Botswana Football Association (BFA) vice president, Segolame Ramothwa, argued bitterly that it would be unconstitutional to appoint a new committee before the previous one submitted the financial reports for scrutiny. Molefe then assured the delegates that the reports were there, but only just arrived from the auditors, KPMG, on the same day.

That did not go well with club chairpersons who wanted time to go through the report first.

According to Phuthego, the constitution states that minutes of the previous meeting and other essential reports should be availed to the delegates in good time.

Phuthego said it was disappointing that the assembly could not go ahead as scheduled because it will be taxing to set it for another date. Delegates who came from as far as Selebi-Phikwe and Francistown felt hard done by the decision to adjourn the meeting.

No one in particular was held responsible for the collapse of the meeting. He gave the excuse that there was no assembly last year and that was why there were no minutes. The constitution allows 14 days for the assembly to be rescheduled.

Phuthego could not immediately give the new date for the assembly after a closed door meeting with club chairpersons. He, however, said it has been approved that the be MOBILE Premier League will kick off on 14 August in accordance with a previous proposal.

Yesterday's meeting was supposed to deliberate on six motions, among them, a motion to allow Premier League clubs to register more than 25 players as it states in Article 2.3 of the BFA play rules and regulations.