2 claim F.F.B. presidency in election controversy

Following a fatal traffic accident on the Western Highway on Monday, tonight we understand that Doctor Miguel Rosado is listed as critical but stable. News Five understands that Rosado is scheduled to undergo another surgery tonight. Rosado was returning from a football meeting in Belmopan on Monday when his 4Runner was flipped over several times. All three of his passengers sustained injuries but Michelle Leslie took the brunt of the impact and was declared dead at the scene. Rosado was rushed to Universal Health Services suffering from serious head and body injuries.

But while Rosado is fighting for his life, his colleagues at the Football Federation of Belize are fighting to prove that their newly executive is legit. On Saturday Rosado was voted in as first vice president of the F.F.B., while Ray Davis is President, Marlon Kuylen is second vice president, Aretha Flores third vice president and Leopoldo Silva and Oswald Twist are executive members. But according to incumbent F.F.B. president Bertie Chimilio, that election was illegal and therefore invalid. Chimilio left the country before commenting on the issue but this afternoon Davis told us he’s got the law on his side.

Ray Davis, President-Elect, F.F.B.
?Mr. Chimilio can make whatever declarations he wants, butif it?s not based on the facts and conditions set out in statues then it?s a wrong statement.?

Kendra Griffith, Reporting
?What do you think you all have on your side that will help you all to be recognized as the actual legal body of the Football Federation of Belize??

Ray Davis
?What we have on our side is the fact that we have followed the statutes to the letter of the law. The problem is simple. On the twenty-seventh of May we had an annual general meeting that was not concluded, and the district associations we had the requisite amount of them that requisitioned a meeting. That meeting has to be held. The requisition was complied with in terms with what the district association had to do. They delivered those requisitions to myself, and I took them to the secretariat. I designated the twenty-second of July as the date for that requisition meeting. And I did that knowing that, first of all we usually have meetings on a Saturday to accommodate everybody, and I did so to make that the president, Dr. Chimilio, had sufficient time to respond to the requisition. A requisition is not something that you just toss aside, the constitution is clear on how it must be handled and the timeframe is there. So essentially Dr. Chimilio had one or two options, he could have used the twenty-second like we normally do or he could have used the Sunday or even earlier if he wanted, but it had to be within the fourteen day period. We had meeting on the twenty-second, it was the general consensus from all the associations that were there that let us take a step back. At the expiry of the thirty day deadline that the meeting set on the twenty-second we had to have this other meeting on the twenty-sixth of August. And that twenty-sixth of August also coincided with the ninety day moratorium that the president himself made at the A.G.M. in May.”

“I got an email today from the president of CONCACAF, Minister Jack Warner and he has advised that, hear listen we are recognizing as CONCACAF Dr. Chimilio as the association. And of course we are going to respect what the president of CONCACAF has to say on the matter. So as it is right now as far as CONCACAF is concerned they have recognized that Dr. Chimilio is the president of the federation that they will deal with. For us the way forward, it is something that we have been asking for all the while. We believe that CONCACAF, the parent body, needs to come to Belize and do an investigation. Once that is done it does not matter what recommendations arise, all we what want them to do is look at the statutes that we have and make sure that whatever processes that were done were in conformity with those statutes. That?s all we have been saying from the beginning of this whole process. And we believe that once they come and see what has happened the decision of the three district association will vindicate, because they have in fact followed the statutes.?

Chimilio has promised to give his side of the story when he returns to Belize on Thursday.