Guyana Times article.
Georgetown, Guyana - The Demerara Cricket Board (DCB) practise facility is now the dwelling place for animals as it awaits the resolution of a number of legal issues before it is officially handed over to the executives of the parent body.
However, with no real resolutions to the pending legal issues and the lack of knowledge of its parent body, the facility runs the risk of becoming a rather expensive “white elephant”.
The facility, which is housed in the compound of the Guyana National Industrial Corporation (GNIC) Ground, Woolford Avenue, Georgetown, has been completed for some time now, but it is still unclear when the facility will be operational.
The building, which was constructed after Guyana won the inaugural Stanford Twenty/20 tournament in 2006, was built by a grant from the now imprisoned former Texan billionaire Allen Stanford.
This grant was part of Stanford’s elaborate plan to plough monies back into territorial boards so that players might have proper facilities to hone their skills.
Meanwhile, when Guyana Times Sport visited the DCB facility on Tuesday, vegetation had taken over the door, while the fence that encloses the practice pitches was completely covered in knee-high grass.
The centre was constructed, with the intention of housing the secretariat of the DCB and hosting county teams preparing for tournaments.
The DCB facility, the Anna Regina cricket hostel in Essequibo and an unknown project in Berbice were built from the grant.
Unknown
On the other hand, the Guyana Cricket Board (GCB) continues to maintain its silence as regards the names of the members of the DCB, who were elected to serve for the period 2013 to 2015.
Guyana Times Sport has tried on numerous occasions to obtain the names, but to no avail.
However, this publication understands that the GCB Secretary Anand Sanasie is the only person with the authority to release the names.
Further, a request was made by this publication on January 23, via email to Sanasie requesting the minutes and video recordings of the GCB Annual General Meeting held on January 27, 2013, which is believed to contain the names of the elected members of the DCB.
However, as of press time on Tuesday, no response was received.
Phone calls made to Sanasie’s cell number also proved futile.
The DCB’s President Raj Singh told this publication last September that the decision not to release the names of the DCB is not a clandestine move to keep the public in the dark, but rather it is linked to several pending court cases,
The Raj Singh-led board has faced severe criticism about the non-disclosure of its elected officials.
The Raj Singh faction of the DCB held elections on January 25 last year, despite an injunction hours prior to the elections.
Injunction
The injunction was granted to plaintiffs Roger Harper and Davteerth Anandjit and the defendants named in the court document were Rajendra Singh, Lalta Digamber, Anand Sanasie, Alfred Mentore, Anand Kalladeen, Ravindranauth Persaud, Ronald Sarjoo, Nazimul Drepaul, Colin Europe, Ray Persaud, Krishnchand Mangal, Chetram Singh, Lionel Jaikaran, Ramsey Ali, Fizul Bacchus, Drubahadur, Troy Mendonca, Terrence Holder (now deceased) and Rayon Griffith.
The interim injunction had restrained the defendants “by themselves, their servants and or agents acting collectively or individually…from convening or causing to be convened or holding an Annual General Meeting of the DCB on January 25, 2013 or any other date for the purpose of the election of office bearers to the Executive Committee” of the DCB for the period 2013 to 2015 term of office.
However, not everyone has given credence to the result.
Many observers have maintained that the elections were held so as to ensure that there was some amount of validity to GCB elections that were held two days after, and that there would have been a quorum to facilitate the local governing body’s elections.
The East Coast Cricket Board (ECCB) and Georgetown Cricket Association (GCA) were not part of the DCB elections and have since pulled out of any commitments to the current DCB set-up that draws its support from the East and West Bank Demerara sub-associations.
Meanwhile, two of Guyana Times Sport reporters continue to be excluded from the media mailing list of the GCB, despite several requests to the board’s office to have them included.
First Published In The Guyana Times.