Dear Editor,
The Demerara Cricket Board fiasco is presently engaging the attention of the court. On January 25, 2013, Justice Diana Insanally issued a court order preventing the holding of elections by the Demerara Cricket Board (DCB).
In a display of gross disrespect, a few persons representing the West Demerara Cricket Association (WDCA) and the East Bank Demerara Cricket Association (EBDCA) defied that court order, held elections and installed a committee; the names of all the members have not been made known. Again the public is reminded that the Georgetown Cricket Association (GCA) and the East Coast Cricket Board (ECCB), out of respect for Justice Insanally’s court order, did not take part in those elections. As a result, the phantom group that controls the DCB has ostracized both the GCA and the ECCB, and in an extraordinary and unprecedented move has gone into those two cricket resourceful areas and selected teams, even taking cricketers from those two areas and including them in the teams from the weak areas of Demerara cricket – the East Bank and the West Demerara.
Cricket teams are being selected at the whims and fancies of inept selectors, and talented and promising cricketers are being sidelined without rhyme or reason.
It is against this backdrop that the support of the illegal DCB by the Diamond Fire & General Insurance Inc presents a disturbing and untenable position.
Had Diamond Insurance done a background check and engaged in due diligence, it would have noted that the DCB is illegal, does not have executive meetings, ordinary general meetings or annual general meetings in accordance with the statutory requirements of the constitution of the DCB. In addition, there is no accountability of the monies provided by the Guyana Cricket Board (GCB) and by sponsors as there has not been any financial report of the DCB for over three years. Diamond Insurance Co cannot claim that it is unaware of these startling matters as they have been well ventilated in the media time and time again. Cricket in Demerara and in Guyana is in such a shambolic state that it is presently engaging the attention of Parliament which is now tasked with the responsibility of passing a Cricket Bill pursuant to bringing order, legality and respectability to our national game.
One would expect that Diamond Insurance, as a responsible company, would ensure that its sponsorship monies are channelled to proper and legally-appointed entities, those which can stand up to strict scrutiny. To provide sponsorship in such circumstances could be damaging to the all-important image of the company and might lead to questions being asked about the judgement displayed by its management.
Of equal importance, the youth cricketers who are expected to benefit from such sponsorship must be nurtured and developed in an environment that has a policy of best practices. Demerara cricket in its present deplorable state can hardly serve as an example to promote effective youth cricket. Sponsors must ensure that they do not fall prey to the shenanigans of the cricket charlatans.
Yours faithfully,
Keiron Roberts
