Dear Editor,
Why do we Guyanese seem unable to recognise that we do not own public offices? After eighteen years as President of the Guyana Cricket Board and with Guyana languishing in regional cricket, Mr Chetram Singh should voluntarily recognise that it is time for change. Guyana’s recent cricketing performance in the region has been dismal and getting worse, with no apparent plan to address important problems in the structure of the game here.
Mr Singh is the longest serving member of the West Indian Cricket Board and must accept some responsibility for the endless pain, embarrassments and disasters that board has brought to the region. The West Indian Board is a model of how an organization should not be run.
Yet, the Minister of Sport and the Director of Sport are publicly advocating for Mr Singh in the elections of the Guyana Cricket Board.
Do they have nothing better to do than interfere in elections and do they not understand what democracy really means? Sport is one of the bloated arms of the government, with a Ministry of Sport, a Department of Sport, a Parliamentary Secretary of Sport and yet we are told that we need Mr Chetram Singh as President of the GCB for a successful World 20/20.
Mr Singh seems afflicted by the same illness that afflicts not only politicians but people in other walks of life. They do not know when and how to call it a day, to recognise that it is time for new ideas and personalities to be introduced, to develop our next generation of leaders. Just look at the Guyana Olympics Association where after years under Mr Juman-Yassin, Guyana has more officials at the Olympics than participants. In boxing it is the same as it is infamously in football.
Maybe we need to have term limits to prevent individuals becoming self-perpetuating.
Finally, I wish to state that this is not a case for any of the contenders for the GCB presidency and indeed the comments may apply to some of them, if only to a lesser degree.
Yours faithfully,
Jonathan Creavalle