Thompson's "restructuring" narrative does not answer the constitutional violations at WIFOL

Dear Mr. Editor,

In his August 20 interview with The Daily Herald ("Thompson: Allegations are 'lies', WIFOL being restructured, congress in October"), WIFOL President Theophilus Thompson dismissed as lies the concerns raised by co-founder René Richardson and other members regarding his conduct of the Association's affairs. Events since that interview have vindicated the members, not Mr. Thompson.

Mr. Thompson's own words in that article confirm the central allegation he claims to reject. He acknowledged that his "last election was in 2014" and that no Congress had been held since. Under Article 12, paragraph 4 of WIFOL's own Articles of Incorporation, executed November 21, 2013, the Board is elected for a term of two years. On Mr. Thompson's own timeline, his electoral mandate lapsed no later than November 2015, nearly eleven years before he sat for that interview still describing himself as president.

Mr. Thompson characterized WIFOL's affairs as being in a period of "restructuring," with leadership training but no election in sight beyond a vaguely promised October Congress. This framing does not answer Article 10, paragraph 1 of the Constitution, which requires a general meeting of members every year, no later than the first working day of June, to receive a Board report, approve financial statements, hear the Audit Committee's report, and fill Board vacancies. Members had already documented, in a letter dated March 25, 2026, that no such meeting had been held in over a decade. Mr. Thompson's response, that the allegations were "lies" and that Mr. Richardson was simply out of touch since entering politics, was not a rebuttal. It was a refusal to engage with the plain text of the Constitution he was obligated to uphold.

The members did not wait indefinitely for Mr. Thompson's promised October Congress. On May 7, 2026, at least ten ordinary members formally invoked Article 10, paragraph 5, requesting a Special General Meeting within the two-week window the Constitution requires. When that request went unanswered, the members exercised their right under Article 10, paragraph 6 to convene the meeting themselves. That congress was held on September 17, 2026, and the membership elected a new president, Joanice David Richardson, along with new board members Elton Jones and Ashma Berkel.

The outcome of that congress speaks for itself. Members did not need Mr. Thompson's permission, his restructuring timeline, or his characterization of their concerns as falsehoods. They needed only what the Constitution had already given them: the right to convene themselves when their Board failed to act. That right existed in March 2026, when the members first wrote to Mr. Thompson. It existed in August 2026, when he called their allegations lies. And it was exercised, lawfully and without incident, on September 17.

As co-founder and a member for life of the Association I reactivated in 1977, I was not acting against WIFOL's interests in raising these concerns. I was acting to restore to the membership the annual meetings, financial transparency and electoral accountability that the Constitution has always required, and which were denied to members for more than a decade.

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