Chairman of the Private Sector Commission (PSC) Ramesh Dookhoo believes that the next president of the Guyana Cricket Board (GCB) should deliver good governance and be a servant of the board and not vice versa.
Dookhoo, a former Vice-President of the Everest Cricket Club and a current member of the Georgetown Cricket Club, told Stabroek Sport yesterday that he wants to see greater accountability and cohesion from the next executive body. He emphasised this point by stating that cricket is close to the heart of Guyanese and what is done with the national board is “a representation of how we represent ourselves outside.”
“There needs to be an executive whose integrity is unquestionable and persons who are well respected in society and who would have been involved in the management and we do have such persons, persons who have spent a lifetime behind the improvement and management of cricket.
“I would like to say to the few executives that they should encourage equal opportunity for all. Therefore, I believe the concept of the servant-leader is very important,” he said.
Dookhoo called on electors for the January 30 polls to vote on merit so that at the end of the process an executive is elected that has the interest of the game and the integrity of the board at heart. And while Dookhoo has not endorsed any of the three presidential hopefuls, he did note that businesspersons have the potential to be great leaders and he pointed out that some of the best run national bodies are headed by businessmen. He added that the aspirants for the top office have to display an attitude of servitude to whatever projects they might be undertaking. The men seeking the post are former General Secretary Bishwa Panday, Vice-President of the GCB Bissondial Singh and Marketing Manager of the GCB Ramsay Ali.
When it was pointed out that the current President Chetram Singh is a businessman and the current problems that beset the board arose under his tenure, Dookhoo said that the executive has to take “full responsibility for what has transpired” and he would “imagine that the persons who are feverishly pursuing leadership of the cricket board will be able to correct those improprieties.”
The GCB has been fraught with allegations of financial impropriety, corruption and executive lawlessness for the last few years.
‘Overhaul’
Dookhoo believes that if there is a focus on accountability and transparency then there will be the need for an overhaul of the current executive. “I would say that responsibility has to be taken seriously and if the executive aims to be accountable then yes overhaul, yes new thinking, new blood.” He continued: “But perhaps we are looking at some of the persons that can deliver on them right now and we need to give those persons a chance if it is that they have the fever, the passion to want to correct some of the wrongs of the past.”
According to Dookhoo, cricket cannot move from its current state unless there is a board in place that “all can admire, [and] support.” He added that players must also be able to respect the leaders at the helm. He believes this is necessary because the majority of our cricketers are young people who are impressionable and therefore there is need for a sense of national respect and pride for them to emulate. “If we do not have a structured leadership that enjoys the confidence of all the stakeholders then it may very well be on the leadership of cricket in Guyana. You can try many things but certainly they have not found the right ingredients and the task of leaders if to strategise and find the right ingredients,” Dookhoo said.
Dookhoo added that he has noticed many of the candidates explaining what they have done for cricket “but somehow it seems that it is missing that central ingredient that will take us to the next level and I believe the cricket board has a responsibility to be fair to not only the players but to the sponsors and potential sponsors and it needs to be run properly.”
