Jamaica Cycling Federation ratifies new constitution

The Jamaica Cycling Federation has become the most recent local sporting body to update its governing constitution. The changes to the constitution were unanimously approved at an extraordinary general meeting on Sunday.

The Wayne Palmer-led administration had earlier earmarked plans for amending the federation’s constitution when they took office last September. The process of updating the constitution saw the formation of a Constitution Review Committee, chaired by First Vice-president

Anthony Ebanks and various stakeholders and club representatives within the cycling community.

The amendments have brought the cycling federation’s constitution up to par with best practices of other governing bodies around the world.

Among the notable changes to the constitution was the extension of the tenure for the executive body and the addition of new positions. The previous constitution limited the tenure of the president and general secretary to two years, while the vice-presidents and treasurer served for one year.

The newly ratified constitution will allow for these executive members to serve for four years, in keeping with the Olympic cycle. According to the new constitution, the federation’s executive will now include the elected positions of assistant secretary, assistant treasurer and a public relations officer.

The new constitution will

also allow for annual general meetings and extraordinary general meetings to be convened virtually and will also allow members to vote virtually. The federation’s annual general meeting, which was constitutionally due in April 2020, was postponed several times, due to the impact of the novel coronavirus pandemic and the inability to reach a quorum.

With the constitutional update out of the way, the federation’s executive is focusing its efforts on the development of youth and women’s cycling across the island.