Guyana Cricket Board (GCB) Secretary Anand Sanasie yesterday confirmed that the board will proceed with their upcoming Annual General Meeting (AGM) Sunday despite the fact that the elections, according to the government, will be considered illegal.
During a brief telephone interview with Stabroek Sports, Sanasie noted that the GCB is merely following its constitution which states that the board must hold its AGM in January.
He said the GCB will go ahead with their meeting as it is mandated in their legal structure.
“The GCB’s constitution in the Cricket Bill says the AGM must be called and be held in the month of January and we will abide by the constitution and hold our meeting once a quorum is there,” said Sanasie.
Having the required number of members to form a quorum will be a bit more difficult for the GCB following Monday’s pronouncement by the
Berbice Cricket Board (BCB) that they will not be attending Sunday’s meeting.
“The members of the Berbice Cricket Board met on Sunday January 18, 2015 at the board’s office and decided that based on the Cricket Administration Bill which is now law, they will not attend or in any way participate in the upcoming elections of the Guyana Cricket Board,” stated the release from the BCB.
The BCB is one of two county boards to stage their AGM so far this year the other being the Essequibo Cricket Board (ECB) whose president Fizul Bacchus told Stabroek Sport yesterday that unlike the BCB, they will be participating in Sunday’s AGM.
According to Bacchus not only will the ECB attend the GCB’s AGM, they will also take part in the electoral process once a quorum is present.
This leaves the Demerara Cricket Board as the only county board yet to indicate if it will participate in the GCB’s elections Sunday.
Sanasie, a vice president of the DCB was asked if the county board, which has yet to hold its AGM, will participate in Sunday’s GCB elections declared:” I prefer not to comment on the DCB issues as the matters are Sub Judice.”
The GCB and the government have been at loggerheads over cricket administration in Guyana since the government decided, based on a court ruling to make the GCB a legal entity in keeping with the cricket boards of Trinidad and Tobago and Barbados. The present GCB has enjoyed support from the West Indies Cricket Board which has stated on more than one occasion that it recognizes the current GCB administration.
Nevertheless the government went ahead with constitutional reform of the GCB which was done by former West Indies captain Clive Lloyd and the CAB was passed in parliament last year after lengthy consultations and deliberations between the government and the opposition with only the Alliance for Change not supporting the passage of the bill.
Recently the Minister of Sport Dr Frank Anthony named Professor Dr. Winston Mc Gowan as the Cricket Ombudsman tasked with the responsibility of calling the GCB elections following the passage of the bill and it being signed into law by President Donald Ramotar last year.
Since then Dr. Mc Gowan has gone on record as saying that only he can set the date for the GCB elections while Attorney General Anil Nandlall in another section of the media, stated that any elections held outside the parameters of the CAB will be illegal, null and void.
Sanasie said yesterday that the recent BCB elections were not without controversy since clubs not listed in the CAB were allowed to vote at the elections where Anil Beharry won the presidency.
“Questions have arisen concerning the BCB elections that were raised with GCB after two clubs not listed in the Cricket Administration Bill voted,” said Sanasie.
He did not mention the names of the clubs.
Meanwhile Sanasie took the opportunity to congratulate the country’s cricketers who have been doing well on the field despite the bleak atmosphere surrounding cricket.
“We are doing excellent on the field and we hope the administration can be sorted out and we will do what we have to do legally and take it from there after the AGM is over.”
