Objections to IWA candidates

THERE is great objection to the Inland Waterways Association putting forward so many candidates for election for the Canal & River Trust.

The websites, the many forums, Twitter and Facebook are carrying unprecedented opposition to the association promoting its members, particularly more candidates than there are places.  The feeling is that the Inland Waterways Association wants to take control by having the boater representatives all its own members.

Particular opposition

The Chairman of the association, Clive Henderson, putting himself forward has created particular opposition, especially his being so connected with the the Board of British Waterways.

Not wanting to be accused of attempting to influence the voting for any particular candidate, we have purposely not included the outright 'electioneering' emails and articles that we have received, but of course have no influence of the Forum posts.

These give some idea of the feelings of boaters, and as they are now in the public domain, a small selection of some of the comments are reproduced:

The comments

'I'm minded that none of the IWA or NABO leadership should stand or be elected to represent us on the council because of divided loyalties. Perhaps even, if council debates issues concerning these bodies then they may have to declare personal interests and be excluded from voting!'

'The IWA and NABO have arguably done many good things for our waterways over time. However, the fact remains that our network hardware and passageways have and still are deteriorating rapidly. This state of affairs must be reversed and I have no faith in things changing if these two bodies are elected to represent us on CaRT.'—Bob Ellison.

'....all the Associations who have endorsed their 'Candidates' have a publicity machine behind them with 100's if not 1,000's of members.'—Val Lee.

'If we finish up with just IWA members, it will be a complete mockery, with independence going straight out of the window. Those from BW - who boaters have clearly shown they do not want - together with the IWA 'yes men' will be a complete disaster.'

'...with the chairman of the IWA standing, it is a foregone conclusion that the members will vote for him, and he will be elected. Which will please BW, for he is already a observer on the Board, and should IWA members vote for fellow IWA members it will be fait accompli, all pals together. All doing as they are told.'—James Henry.

'It is wrong for an association to put forward candidates to fill every available vacancy as the Inland Waterways Association is doing, especially then openly promoting them.'—Charles Black.

'But I also went through the tedious procedure of listing all the other 32 candidates in order of preference, just to be sure that Clive Henderson was at number 33.'—Ted Sedman.

'No doubt many long-standing members of those "associations" will do as they are told, but whilst campaigning I have for example encountered many long term IWA members who are horrified that the IWA have actually proposed no less than five of their trustees and senior officers for election when only four council places exist. Although some have said they will not withdraw IWA membership over it, they have made it abundantly clear they will not be voting for any of the proposed names, and hope they are not elected.'

'Obviously they can't all get elected, because curiously (eventually!) the IWA have offered more "preferred" candidates than there are places(!) From what I have seen, Clive Henderson is the one attracting the most controversy, so probably I would give him the least chance of success of the five.'—Alan Fincher.