Dear Members,

The National Committee of Management have stood silently by whilst a very small minority of disgruntled Members & Non Members have maligned, threatened and defamed all on Committee – a Committee that were voted in by the Members by a postal vote that has never been disputed.

We now wish to put to our Members some home truths as at the moment there is a lot of information being circulated that is not true and we feel we should inform as many Members as possible about this.

It is probably appropriate to start by clarifying the points that have been raised in emails currently circulating by those disgruntled Members within private emails and on their website.
 
1.  The calling of their SGM (Special General Meeting):  The National Committee of Management has NEVER refused to call or organize their SGM.  Based on legal advice to us, they have been advised that their SGM documents are invalid and we cannot legally call their SGM using the documents they lodged with us.  We have informed them if they re-submit valid documents their SGM would be organized - they have chosen not to do this.    
 
2.  The so called legal judgment:  Due to a dispute with a Member, conciliation Meetings were held and it was agreed between the parties that a word in our Constitution, General Rules and Regulations (yes, one single word) could be deemed to be discriminatory.  That word is “spouse”.  This word has been part of the General Rules of the Association for many years.  Due to the fact that the word “spouse” could be discriminatory, on legal advice, it was agreed that this word is to be removed from the General Rules and Regulations document that was sent out to our Members to be voted on at our upcoming SGM.  Therefore the claim that we are asking our Members to vote on an illegal document is completely incorrect.  The claim that we have not amended this in the document is also completely incorrect.

3.  It has been stated in some of the circulating emails that this Committee have “hand picked” Members, e.g., last year our Treasurer, Peter Whitfield, stood aside as Treasurer and took up a vacant Committee position until the end of his term.  Our President took on the job as Treasurer in a caretaker position, until the next elections – as allowed by our Constitution.  Our current Treasurer, Justin Wetzler, was not appointed as Treasurer until the last elections and did not take over this role until the AGM.  Again we had a situation where our Secretary stood down due to family issues; S. Smith has taken on this position in a caretaker role, until the next elections – as allowed by our Constitution.  WHERE HAVE WE DONE ANYTHING WRONG?  All we have done is to endeavour to maintain the smooth running of your Association AS PER OUR CONSTITUTION. 

4.  Suspension of Members:  Your Committee, acting under provisions in the Constitution, General Rules and Regulations, has been forced into taking disciplinary action towards some Members who have in some way broken the Rules of the Association; we do not apologize for this as there comes a time when one has to make a stand to stop all the disruption to the running of MHAA. 

5. Total Control of MHAA:  Their claim that we, the National Committee of Management want to take total control of MHAA is quite ludicrous.  Although we have split the Constitution, General Rules and Regulations (Appendix 1 & 2) and Show Rules, no way takes control from the Members.  To Change anything in the Constitutions, General Rules and Regulations will still mean that Resolutions have to be put to the Members to vote on and that a 75% majority vote by the Members who choose to vote, will dictate whether the Resolution is passed or not; this is exactly the same as it is now.  The only reason that we have separated the Constitution from the General Rules and Regulations and Show Rules is that DOCEP (Department of Consumer and Employment Protection) believe that the General Rules and Regulations and Show Rules should not be part of the Constitution.  It should also be noted that we have been liaising with DOCEP, who offered to review the Constitution before it was sent to the Members, this was done.  The Constitution sent to Members reflect any resolutions that have been passed by a 75% or more vote by the Members in the preceding years and has been checked for inaccuracies of punctuation, grammar and correction of anomalies; as advised by DOCEP we were authorized to do at this time, as it was being re-presented to the Members. 

6.  MHAA SGM:  The reasons for our holding an SGM at this time are contained in the Notice of Special General Meeting, which accompanied the voting paper and should be self-explanatory.  But if you do not fully understand any part of it, please do not hesitate to contact myself or one of the National Committee Members.   

It is important to stress to all Members that you contact that it is vital that they stand up for their rights and vote, the survival of MHAA depends on Member support.  Remember, it requires 75% of the vote cast not 75% of the membership to enact a resolution, so if insufficient Members vote then it is clear that the minority would be able to dictate the future of your Association, don’t let this happen.
 
We should also point out that one factor that this small minority of Members seem to forget, or apparently prefer to ignore, is the cost to the Association (that is our Member’s money) whilst having to defend their continued actions and our Member’s rights, by engaging the services of a Solicitor. 

We trust that the above will clarify the position for you, correct all the untrue information that is being circulated and re-assure you that we, the National Committee of Management have the Members interests at heart.  We were voted in by the Members to run their Association for them in accordance with the Constitution, General Rules and Regulations and we will do that to the very best of our ability.

Yours sincerely,

Brian Neal
President – MHAA