Some members of Pan Trinbago are calling for an independent body put in charge of all nominations and the election process.
The suggestion came from several members during Thursday night's Extraordinary General Meeting (EGM) which was held at the Communication Workers' Union Hall, Henry Street, Port-of-Spain.
According to a member, the suggestion was made because the "majority of the membership has lost full confidence in the existing executive and they do not want them to handle any of the nomination papers. They want the Elections and Boundaries Commission to take charge of the elections when it does happen."
However, Guardian Media understands that the elections may not be on September 16 as scheduled, as there was no quorum at Thursday's meeting to take the necessary decisions.
However, a new meeting date will soon be announced where at that meeting decisions can be made on the way forward.
A member explained: "They said that 110 bands are needed and there were only about 86 present. But from my experience, we have never gotten 110 bands and I'm here since the 70s. So some people are trying to be mischievous."
The reasons for calling Thursday's EGM was to apprise members on several matters including a status of the organisation, report on the court matters and elections 2018 -2021 but instead the meeting turned into a complaint forum and debate on whether there was a quorum to convene.
Initially, Nomination Day was set for today, with elections carded for September 16, at a venue and time to be announced.
Throughout the meeting, members were seen leaving the venue and were overheard expressing their disgust and disappointment at the failed EGM.
"I leaving here because this not making no sense. None of the matters on the agenda can be discussed and people here only taking up time to talk about all other issues. I don't know when all this comess will stop. People being misled too much and nothing doing to correct it," one of the members said.
Also raised at the meeting, which was due to begin at 5 pm but did not get started until 7 pm, a member questioned why for the past five months staff of Pan Trinbago had not received their respective salaries. However, no explanation was given.
It was made clear that the National Carnival Commission is only trying to instil accountability and transparency from the executive of Pan Trinbago and not "trying to take it over."
By the end of the meeting at 9 pm, no kind of hope was given to the members who were present, not even by Pan Trinbago's president Keith Diaz, who was seated at the far end of the head table.
Pan Trinbago, steelband’s umbrella body, has been embroiled in controversy with its membership over a plethora of issues.
Even before the staging of this year’s National Panorama, accusations of misappropriation of funds were hurled towards the member’s of the Pan Trinbago executive. An untenable situation led to a number of issues been determined in court, resulting in the executive retaining leadership until an election is held.
Campaigning leading up to the elections is expected to be a tempestuous one as infuriated pannists continue to lobby for the rejection and complete removal of the incumbent executive and a new one elected to serve until 2021.