PNGRFL defers AGM

THE Papua New Guinea Rugby Football League (PNGRFL) deferred its annual general meeting (AGM) to March 28 due to irregularities in the nomination of two candidates.
“The integrity of the election process is important to ensure the legitimacy of the elected officials to hold office,” PNGRFL Sandis Tsaka said.
“The PNGRFL must protect the integrity of this process to ensure transparency and good governance.
“The election of the PNGRFL board is held once every three years.
“Some serious issues have just come to light which pose a serious risk to the integrity of the election process.”
He said the main issues for the deferral of Saturday’s AGM were due to reports received within the last 24 hours of Southern confederate candidate and Popondetta Rugby League president Peter Oresi being banned by the PNGRFL judiciary in 2006 from taking public office.
Questions were also raised around the legality of a seconder of a candidate when nominations closed two weeks ago has since been replaced by a new president.
“These issues need to be confirmed and addressed to ensure transparency in the election process,” Tsaka said.
Furthermore, he said the eligibility of the 32 leagues attending the AGM were not fully certified in line with the PNGRFL affiliation requirements due to conflicting reports from the confederates.
“The selection steering committee, headed by PNGRFL chief executive Reatau Rau, will look into these issues and in consultation with our legal team, clarify and confirm that all is in order within the next three weeks,” Tsaka said.
He said the PNGRFL board, as per the constitution, had powers to convene and set dates for the AGM.
“The AGM must be held before the end of March each year,” Tsaka said. “Therefore, we have set March 28 at 10am at the Oil Search National Football Stadium.
“I thank all our stakeholders for your understanding and patience.
“This is important because in the past, questions around the legitimacy of PNGRFL office bearers led to the demise of the code from 2013 going backwards.
“We need to protect the integrity of the process to ensure the issues of the past are not repeated again.”
Port Moresby Rugby Football League chairman Dr James Naipao supported the deferral to ensure all processes and guidelines were followed.
“I don’t want to see the code go down again,” he said.
“The game is at a level where the corporate sector is attracted to support and develop partnerships.”
Lae Rugby League president Adrian Chow said: “We must not compromise the confidence of all our stakeholders.
“Let’s do things in the interests of our stakeholders and everybody involved in the game, and respect the processes in place.”