Sutherland accuses Stanley of being a dictator

“He is a dictator”, “He needs to be removed.”

That’s the way Secretary of the St Vincent and the Grenadines Table Tennis Association, Julian Sutherland, has described the man at the helm of the organisation, Sean Stanley.{{more}}

The two have been at loggerheads for the past three months with much being ventilated on local sports radio call-in programmes.

At the center of the discord are accusations surrounding Stanley’s alleged autocratic style.

“I don’t have a problem serving as secretary of the association; I have a problem the way the president wants to single handedly run the association.”

Sutherland is accusing Stanley of withholding vital implements from him, including the association’s official stamp, letterheads and access to the e-mail account.

Elected April 6, this year, Sutherland said that his tenure has been restricted to recording the minutes of meetings.

“The president is performing both secretarial and presidential roles,” Sutherland charged.

The lines of communication are also closed between the two.

According to Sutherland, Stanley has called him twice since his elevation to the post.

The ongoing impasse has attracted the attention of the National Olympic Committee (NOC), which had a closed door session with members of the executive, to give guidance to the situation.

Sutherland is determined to have the matter resolved, even it means getting the International Table Tennis Federation (ITTF) involved.

An adamant Sutherland stated emphatically, “I am deliberately isolated but I am not going to resign”.