Dear Editor,
On December 29, 2014, the Berbice Cricket Board (BCB) held its last Biennial General Meeting, when Anil Beharry of the Young Warriors Cricket Club, succeeded Keith Foster of the Rose Hall Town Youth and Sport Club as President, by defeating Victor Seebarran on a vote of 22 to 16. The 1st Vice President, Dhiatendranauth Somwaru, was returned unopposed, all of which was observed by the Secretary and Treasurer of the Guyana Cricket Board, both men being Directors of the West Indies Cricket Board.
Due to an injunction filed one month later, the activities of the Board were limited thereafter, and owing to frustration, fear and a transfer on promotion to the Georgetown branch of his company, President Anil Beharry resigned in January 2017. Like all other office-holders his two-year term had expired on December 31, 2016.
The 1st Vice President Dhiatendranauth Somwaru tried to call a special meeting in February 2017, to discuss the relationship between the Guyana and Berbice Cricket Boards, but could not do so due to the injuction which barred executive members from holding meetings.
Somwaru has since being sending out letters to previously appointed members of the Executive Committee, thanking them for their services, stating that he was looking for honest individuals and that the Board was moving on in another direction. He has been using an altered Berbice Cricket Board letterhead and has been signing these letters as President of the Berbice Cricket Board.
The following previously appointed executive members are expected to receive letters: Malcolm Peters, Keith Foster, Albert Smith, Hubern Evans, Julian Cambridge and at least one other. Keith Foster and Albert Smith have indeed received such a letter. Seywag of Bush Lot West Coast Berbice has also received a letter.
It should be noted that Keith Foster is a past three-term President of the BCB and the long serving President of the most progressive Rose Hall Town Youth and Sport Club. Malcolm Peters is a Life Member and former President. Albert Smith is a highly experienced National Senior and Junior Level III Coach who performed as Chairman of the National and County Selection Committees. Hubern Evans is a former national batsman, an experienced Level III Coach, who served on the National Selection Committee and chaired the County Selection Committee. Julian Cambridge is a former Vice President. All five of these individuals have served Berbice Cricket in excess of 20 years and have served as executive members and Vice President before Somwaru did so.
Somwaru espouses honesty while he attended three meetings of the Guyana Cricket Board in breach of the injunction. Since the absence of Beharry from Berbice more than a year ago, he has visited the Board office in New Amsterdam on three occasions, but only while on his way to Georgetown. He showed no leadership then and has been showing poor leadership now.
If he wants to be President of the Berbice Cricket Board he should call an election at the appropriate time and proceed from there. In the meanwhile he has no moral or legal authority to dismiss outstanding long-serving members of the Berbice Cricket Board.
He should realize by now that the $2 million dollars subvention promised by the illegal Guyana Cricket Board, which has not given a blind penny to the Berbice Cricket Board since 2010, has been strapped on the back of a snail on its way to Berbice.
As I look back with pride on my 53 years of association, serving in numerous and multiple positions on this once august body, I recall our policy of honesty, hard work, inclusion and building by consensus. The removal of the main pillars of our foundation can only result in the weakening of our structure, and with poor management, its eventual destruction. I urge Mr Somwaru to put Berbice cricket first.
Yours faithfully,
Mortimer George
