On June 17, 2018, in a 1970 coup d’état fashion, GMAC said they have voted John Gaye out as the President and Board Chair of the Africa Centre. This provoked a swift response from the Africa Centre rubbishing the claims and brandishing GMAC as an illegitimate group not connected to the Africa Centre.
The General Membership of the Africa Centre (GMAC) is not a registered group and not an arm of the Africa Centre. It is made up of disgruntled former Board Members of the Africa Centre. On its list, GMAC has some of the brightest minds in our community with people who are well connected, experienced, have got good jobs, and have amazed useful experiences and wealth from their long working years. They boost of a university professor, a teacher, an administrator, business owners, a former Police Commissioner, and a School Board Trustee. For sure they are not your average person of African descent struggling to make ends meet. It is easy to conclude that GMAC will also have lots of talents and skills ready to be unleashed on any project.
So why will some of the brightest minds in the poorest community turn its heavy weight against the very community they will be expected to serve. GMAC says they turned their fire against the Africa Centre because of the organization not following its bylaws, abuse of power and illegitimacy of Board Chair, John Gaye, inability to become board members, and the handling of the sexual harassment investigation of former Executive Director, Tesfaye Ayalew.
After doing some investigation, I found that most of these issues are being addressed but that did not stop GMAC from going from passing a vote of no confidence on the Africa Centre Board, and now voting out John Gaye as President and Board Chair.
Could there be another reason for GMAC to turn its might against a struggling organization without an Executive Director, Project Manager on sick leave, no accountant, not even a volunteer communication coordinator, and a depleted Board? You bet!
So what can that be? I will guess in one word – power.
To take over the centre through any means possible and bring in an Executive Director that they want, can you guess who that person is?
Why these conclusions? GMAC’s condition of bringing back the former Executive Director even after the scandal indicates the lack of interest in dialogue; as such they kept pursuing their agenda and now resulted in voting John out. The resolution to vote out John confirms that they cannot afford the patience to wait for John’s term to be over in some few short months. When GMAC met with the most politically influential group in Edmonton, City Councilors, you will expect them to pitch a project to help our community move forward or advocate for issues in the community, guess what they pitched to the Councilors, stop funding the Africa Centre and carry out an audit.
To test the credibility of the unanimous vote claims by all who attended the GMAC meeting to oust John, Benjamin Demba, President of D.R Congo Society of Edmonton, angrily rejected ever voted to oust John. He said he only went to the meeting to find a peaceful solution but was surprised to see a resolution indicating that he signed. With this fading credibility to an already damaging image of GMAC, we will continue to dig into other people that GMAC claimed to have voted.
When there is trouble in a family, you will expect the parties involved to sit down and talk. Unfortunately, this is not the case with GMAC using 1970 tactics to get what they want – get John out and take over the centre.
So who are the members of GMAC? Let me run through the list of members whom GMAC claimed signed the resolution last Sunday to oust John as Board Chair and President of the Africa Centre: Keli Tamaklo, Ghana Friendship Association of Edmonton, Zimbabwe Cultural Society of Alberta, Ethiopian Canadian community Association in Edmonton, Association Niger Canada Sahel, Somali Canadian Cultural Society of Edmonton, Association Des Ressortissants de Djibouti en Alberta, Centre For Eritrean Culture, Moroccan Society in Alberta, Meheret Worku, Bitupu Mufuta, Tichawona Tamanikwa, Dawit Isac and Ismail Hash.
Due to the chaos and problems that these groups and individuals are causing in our community, we will for sure be sharing in the near future, information you shared with us about the true identity of these individuals and groups, drawing comments from their employers, and community, of course inviting members of law enforcement to intervene when necessary. Please keep the information flowing.
GMAC started with emails to Africa Centre funders, partners, the media, and politicians, raising legitimate concerns about the centre, such as the mother of this crisis, the sexual harassment investigation of former Executive Director, Tesfaye Ayalew, they questioned the legitimacy of John Gaye as President, they cited disregard for bylaws, they brought up problems with recruitment of new members, and most recently, they lambasted the Board for the firing of Tesfaye without waiting for the report of the sexual harassment investigation by a lawyer who came highly recommended by the Board.
Although genuine concerns were raised by GMAC, the handling of these concerns by the Board lived much to be desired. However, GMAC tactics could be described as best toxic to the Africa Centre, and at worst embarrassing to any person of African descent living in Alberta as the entire Edmonton can only watch the fight as it unfolds day after day.
John’s term as President of the Africa Centre will be over in few short months, but this seems like eternity for GMAC to wait, leading to serious questions over their intentions from community members. GMAC has written numerous letters to Africa Centre funders, partners, the media, and politicians tainting the image of the centre, needless to say that looks bad on anybody of African descent working hard and following due processes to get ahead in this province.
The most damaging, if not embarrassing of such letters from so called founding fathers of the Africa Centre, was the one requesting the City to stop funding the centre, irrespective of the hundreds of members in our community who benefit from the fantastic services provided by the centre such as; Childcare, Afterschool Program, recruitment program for the youth, and of course close to 30 employees who put food on the table everyday as a result of working for the centre.
This chaos is reflected in the halting by the City of Edmonton, of the most important project in the history of people of African descent in Edmonton and in Canada, the Africa Multicultural Community Centre until this “whahala” is sorted.
The big question in a messy world is what is the way forward? Once again, sit down and talk as a family is never late. With membership issues being resolved by an independent membership committee, you will expect GMAC to re-apply and become members and contest in the election for the next Board Chair when John is gone, but rather they chose to vote John out. GMAC preaches the gospel of following bylaws and due processes, you will expect them to wait for the next election to compete for the position of Board Chair, as well as, compete for the position of Executive Director coming up led by an independent HR Firm.
I pray that the City, the Province, the partners, the funders, the Federal Government, the media, and supporters of the centre will use their leverage on the two groups to bring lasting peace and unity in our community. GMAC met already with City Councilors, that channel of communication can be explored for the sake of peace.
Ladies and gentlemen, a problem shared is partly solved.
