Al-Raya Sport learned that the Membership Affairs and Elections Committee of Qatar Sports Club has approved all members who have paid their membership fees to attend the ordinary general assembly meeting scheduled for 24th August, which will witness the election of a president and vice-president for the next session, 2020-2024. A source in the Committee told Al-Raya that a meeting was held after the end of fee payment period and the list of members entitled to attend the general assembly, whose number reached approximately 400 members, was approved and submitted to the Club management by the Committee.
No disputes have arisen between the members of the Committee, the source confirmed, with regard to dropping the membership of certain members and all names were approved. In addition, no member from those who paid the member fees was excluded, even members who had not paid their fees for more than 5 years. The source indicated that it is normal that the Committee members have discussions in this regard but all of these discussions are about matters related to membership and nomination papers to make the right decision. However, the situation did not reach the extent of a dispute regarding dropping the membership of certain members of the general assembly. Besides, he continued, declaring the members’ lists falls within the purview of the Club not the Membership Affairs and Election Committee. At the same time, he explained, the Committee paved the way for members to pay membership fees despite the fact that the last general assembly referred the decision on their membership to the next general assembly, which had contributed to the high turnout. According to Paragraph (b) of Article (24) of the Club’s Statute, the Club’s president shall post at the Club’s headquarters the names of the members entitled to attend, signed by the General Manager and the Financial and Administrative Supervisor of the Club in addition to displaying a list showing the names of all members nominated for presidency and vice presidency after being approved publically in a visible place in the Club. Moreover, Article (25) provided that each member entitled to attend Assembly shall receive from the Club’s secretariat a copy of the documents related to the agenda and the attachments thereof, a list of the names of the members entitled to attend the meeting and all the approved nominee lists for the presidency and vice presidency election, including the meeting agenda, the President’s report on the Club’s activities throughout the previous year, the activity programs and the work plan for the next year. The source stated that the Assembly members is about 530 members with nearly 400 members entitled to attend the General Assembly. The other members, he said, did not attend in the Club and did not pay the fees. The decision to suspend the other members membership shall be determined at the general meeting, especially since all of those members have not paid the membership fees, for more than 5 years and the General Assembly decided in the previous meeting to refer the matter of suspending membership of the members who had not paid fees for more than 5 years to the next General Assembly, and thus the decision shall be made by the Assembly. The source explained that the decision to postpone the Assembly from 23 July to 24 August was taken in coordination between the club and the Ministry of Culture and Sports and the Ministry of Health, for the purpose of taking precautionary measures and preventive measures in order to preserve the safety of members while the Membership Affairs and Elections Committee did not interfere in the decision. The Membership Affairs and Elections Committee was formed in the Qatar Club for a period of 4 years but a new membership Committee shall be formed in the next General Assembly, consisting of at least 5 members so that the new Committee will operate after the election of the new board of directors of the Club. The current Committee shall supervise the organization elections at the General Assembly. The Membership Affairs and Elections Committee had approved two lists in the Qatar Club elections. The first list is (Hamad bin Suhaim) list which includes His Excellency Sheikh Hamad bin Suhaim Al Thani for president and Sheikh Suhaim bin Abdulaziz Al Thani for vice president, and the second list is (Qatar) list, including His Excellency Sheikh Jassim bin Hamad bin Nasser Al Thani, the current president of the Club, for president with Ali Abdulaziz Al-Mannai for vice president. The Committee had excluded (Hamad bin Suhaim) list before reapproving it based on the Guidelines of the Ministry of Culture and Sports to disregard the guidelines, which were not approved by the General Assembly, and to rely on the regulations of the club’s Statute. The Guidelines shall be discussed at the next meeting of the Club’s General Assembly.