NETBALL JAMAICA president designate Karen Rosen Baugh said she wants nothing more than to see the back of problems that caused delays to the hosting of an annual general meeting (AGM) for a number of years.
Baugh is expected to be elected unopposed at Netball Jamaica’s next AGM on July 5 at the Summit in Kingston.
The Netball Jamaica boss-designate said current vice president Simone Forbes will be one of the five or six core members that she will have on her slate but that an announcement would likely be saved until nominations close. Nominations end on July 3.
“As far as I know, I am unopposed. But in terms of the other positions, you have to wait until nomination closes before we know who is coming to the table
“There are a set of people that I want to work with and who I will be throwing my support behind, including Simone Forbes.
“I will announce all my members soon. I just want to make sure all of them are duly nominated and then I can declare.
“Nominations are on the Thursday before the election, but I am hoping everyone will complete it this week so we will know. But it is their prerogative if they want to wait until the Thursday,” she said.
There are 10 positions that will be up for grabs on the night. Positions on the executive will include president, first and second vice-president, and treasurer.
Apart from those that make up her core team, Baugh said she is hoping that the members elect persons who are reliable, committed, and hard working.
“There are 10 positions on the board, including the role of president, and there are some others which are core executives, and you want to ensure that those are people you trust and have a good working relationhip with.
“But if you come to the table with a mindset to work and give of your time and you have integrity, I will work with you.
The association last held an AGM in 2021. At the time, Netball Jamaica had released a financial report for 2020 but has not released one since, causing numerous criticisms from stakeholders.
According to Baugh, the upcoming AGM will include financial statements for the last three years, with a fourth to be ready by September.
“It [audit] will be ready [for the AGM]. When the last AGM was held, it was presented one year behind because COVID caused some issues in terms of that management.
“So we will present a few years at this AGM and have one more year to bring to books by September. But we will have enough to do what we need to do to have the executive and the directors fully legal [to hold office],” she said.
Baugh, who also worked under the Marva Bernard administration from 2012 to 2015, added that accountability and the timely presentation of annual audits is something she wants to characterise her tenure,
“When you have these issues with financial reports, there are some implications that there is something wrong in terms of financial management.
“But from where I have sat for the last three and a half years, I haven’t seen any issues like that. But this is definitely one of the areas that I am focused on, and that is why it is important who is coming on as part of my core team.
“When I was on the board with Mrs Bernard, we never had any conversations like this. The AGM was held every year, and the audited financials were always ready. That is where we are headed back to.
“This is not a conversation I want to be having after we have passed this stage. So I am hoping concerns about how long our audited financials are taking to be reported will be in the past.”
