President of the Guyana Cricket Board (GCB) Chetram Singh who has been at the helm of the GCB for 19 years, said yesterday that this was the worse he has seen cricket administration in the country adding that a serious decision will have to be made next week about the in-fighting in the Demerara Cricket Board (DCB).
Singh told Stabroek Sport yesterday that “he is ‘fedup’” of the wrangling between the two factions operating at the DCB.
He also indicated that the two persons (referring to Bissondyal Singh and Anand Sanassie) who are at loggerheads in the DCB are the same persons who have also aided in the decline in administrative standards of the GCB.
Singh, who will not be seeking re-election to the post of GCB president, stressed that at no time during his tenure as a cricket administrator has there been such a breakdown.
The situation is out of hand, according to Singh, who also declared that it was getting worse.
For Singh, the DCB executive spends too much of its time in the courts and there are no valuable contributions and fresh ideas being submitted by either side of the divide.
“Sadly,” according to Singh this has partly been the case with the governing body.
The DCB factions have been embroiled in protracted legal proceedings which ended last week with attorney for DCB president (Bissoondyal Singh) Anil Nandlall withdrawing his case in the Supreme Court.
With this action Nandlall had said that elections held at Lusignan Community Centre on January 22 were the legitimate elections.
He had argued that the president has to convene a meeting and not the secretary or the vice-president, effectively stating that the other Annual General Meeting that was held at Wales on the same day “could not have been a legally constituted meeting.”
Singh indicated that during executive meetings of the GCB the situation existed where ideas could not be presented without an argument between the warring factions. When Stabroek Sport enquired whether he might have lost some control he said that such is not the case but rather the environment was not of a nature that allowed for much progress.
Singh is therefore advocating now that each sub- association of the DCB holds fresh elections, along with fresh elections of office bearers for the DCB. He said with this the DCB can start with a fresh mandate. He indicated that this his opinion and that he will be suggesting this to his executive members when they meet next week.
He told this publication that the GCB will be willing to act as scrutineers of this process if the body is asked or there is the possibility “that the GCB will impose on these sub-associations,” the need for intervention of the parent body. He emphasised though that a “decision will be made” on the DCB debacle.
On the other hand, Singh said that he is anxious to be out of office, adding that “as far I am concerned my time has been up since January 30.”
Singh is still in office because the Registrar of the Friendly Societies is currently reviewing the audited financial reports and annual returns of the GCB and elections cannot be held until this process is over. According to a source at the Registrar this process is expected to be wrapped up in the next two weeks after which an election date will be announced.
According to the source persons appointed by the Registrar will also be meeting with the executive of the GCB next week to address concerns that have arisen during the audit. The GCB has also been plagued with their own problems of executive lawlessness and other excesses.
