I WRITE in response to the many inaccuracies and misleading statements in the article ‘GCB – Getting it Right’, which appeared in the Kaieteur News of 26 February 2012. I note that the article does not convey a name or a designation of the person who can take responsibility for its content, authenticity and publication.
The Interim Management Committee (IMC) for Guyana’s cricket, chaired by Mr. Clive Lloyd, had invited two (2) members from the purported Guyana Cricket Board (GCB), two (2) from the Essequibo Cricket Board, and one (1) from the Raj Singh faction of the Demerara Cricket Board to the Stakeholders of Cricket meetings.
However, no representatives from these Boards attended any of the meetings, and the reason offered was that they do not recognise the IMC. From all reports, the stakeholders’ meetings were well attended with very insightful contributions from the participants.
In relation to the US$100,000 or US$50,000 annual disbursements from the WICB, the accounts of the GCB do not reflect those specific figures. For example, an examination of the GCB’s audited financial statement for the period December 1, 2009 to November 30, 2010 revealed that an amount of US$67,000 (Gy$13,400,000) was received from the WICB, but with no indication as to how that sum should be utilised.
I wish to categorically state that neither the Berbice Cricket Board nor the Demerara Cricket Board has ever received a total subvention of G$2,000,000 in any one year from the GCB as was stated in item 3 of the article.
The Essequibo Cricket Board (ECB) has however, apparently been receiving unauthorised funding from the GCB for the purpose of securing their votes. The various amounts disbursed to the ECB have not been officially recorded.
Executive members of the GCB noted that in 2010 the sum of $600,000 was provided to the ECB for the preparation of their female county team. That sum was not spent for the intended purpose and went unaccounted for.
It is apposite to note that it was this very Essequibo Board alone that voted in the GCB Executive on 10 July 2011 in what has been deemed fraudulent elections.
In relation to the stipend issue in item 4 of the article, the GCB remits a monthly sum of G$25,000 to each county Board to assist in defraying the administrative expenses of those Boards.
It is totally untrue for the GCB to state that the county Board administrators report to the GCB’s administrator. The county Board administrators report and are accountable only to their respective Boards. Because of the autonomy of each county Board, the GCB could not possibly have dismissed the administrator of the Berbice Board and she in fact continues to perform her duties with exceptional dedication.
The two (2) GCB cricket facilities at LBI on the East Coast of Demerara and at Anna Regina on the Essequibo Coast have been the subjects of serious financial irregularities, with those structures costing tens of millions of dollars more than was budgeted and approved (item 5).
It is astonishing that the subject article states that no “trustee account” exists at the GCB (item 8). Mr. Rupert Foster, who was retained by the Registrar of the Friendly Societies to investigate the finances of the GCB, clearly established the existence of a “trustee account” and even noted that an amount of $8,995,000 had been placed in that account in 2010 after two (2) fund-raising T20 cricket matches at the National Stadium.
Mr. Foster stated in his report that the auditors of the GCB were very concerned that the “trustee account” did not appear anywhere in the accounts of the GCB.
Further, monies in the Standford Fund account disappeared, re-appeared and were arbitrarily changed in the GCB’s financial reports.
I understand the many financial irregularities of the GCB and the gross mismanagement of the accounts are now the subject of a forensic audit, and also a police investigation.
That audit and investigation promise to be very revealing.