Dear Editor
BERBICE Cricket Stakeholder Committee wishes to inform the general public of the hijacking of the national game in the ancient county.
We are concerned about the direction Berbice Cricket is heading and the majority of cricketers and clubs are unaware of who are the persons in charge of the Berbice Cricket Board and when would the next cricket tournament be played at the different levels.
What makes the situation worse is that major clubs like the Albion Cricket Club, Rose Hall Town Youth & Sports Club, Blairmont and Upper Corentyne seek to not be involved in the administration of the game while a cricket club which has not won a major cricket title for over 20 years suddenly seems to be controlling Berbice Cricket at all angles.

The lead characters in the so-called Berbice Cricket Board have no major achievements in administration and two of them are directly responsible for the decline of the game from its all-time high under the Presidency of Keith Foster to its present state.
The Berbice Cricket Stakeholders Committee would like to inform Berbicians on the recent development in Berbice Cricket over the last three years.

1. Anil Beharry was elected President of the Berbice Cricket Board in December, 2014 to replace Keith Foster who was not required to run again after completing three consecutive two-year terms. The three Vice Presidents elected were D. Somwaru, Q. Winter and V. Walter, while Angela Haniff and Vicky Bharosay were elected as Secretary and Treasurer, respectively.

2. Godwyn Allicock of the Port Mourant Cricket Club and David Black of the West Berbice Cricket Association sought and were granted a Court Injunction against the Berbice Cricket Board on the grounds that two clubs were not supposed to vote due to the fact that the clubs’ names were left out of the Cricket Administration Bill.

3. The Anil Beharry-led Berbice Cricket Board was unable to meet for the entire term. According to the Cricket Bill, the term ended in December, 2015 after a one-year term.

4. Anil Beharry in a letter dated 29th January, 2017, electronically submitted a letter of resignation. The letter was addressed to the Berbice Cricket Board Secretary and carbon copied to the Secretary of the Guyana Cricket Board.

5. Resignations to Organisations must be accepted by the elected body. No such meeting was ever held.

6. Despite the Court Injunction still in place, Vice President D. Somwaru decided to fire all of the appointed members of the Berbice Cricket Board, except for Imtiaz Baccus of the Albion Cricket Club. Those fired were Keith Foster, Rabindranauth Saywack, Julian Cambridge, Albert Smith and Malcolm Peters. Imagine Keith Foster never accepted the appointed position and was shocked when he received a letter signed by D. Somwaru as President of the Berbice Cricket Board, informing him that he was fired.

7. The Cricket Bill passed in the Guyana parliament simply states that three Vice Presidents shall be elected and does not state 1st, 2nd or 3rd Vice President. All three Vice Presidents – Somwaru, Winter and Walter have the same status and one is left to wonder how Somwaru took it upon himself to appoint himself as president.

8. Vice President Winter has never been invited to any meeting to discuss Berbice Cricket since the resignation of Mr. Anil Beharry as president.

9. In a letter in which Somwaru signed as President (ag), he invited certain clubs to a special meeting of the Berbice Cricket Board to discuss the following: a) no-Confidence Motion against the Secretary, Ms. Angela Haniff. b) Removal of non-functioning clubs from the membership of the Berbice Cricket Board. c) Acceptance of three clubs into the membership of the Berbice Cricket Board once they apply to do so.

10. The Constitution of the Berbice Cricket Board clearly states that only the secretary can send notices for special meetings and all Motions must be submitted to the secretary.

11. Angela Haniff in her capacity as secretary has never signed any Notice for special meeting nor has received any Motion including the no-confidence against her.

12. What was surprising was Godwyn Allicock and David Black submitting a letter authorizing Somwaru to act as board resident. Imagine, Beharry was blocked from fulfilling his elected duties but they chose to authorise Somwaru to do so. More shocking was the fact that they would be willing to withdraw the Court Injunction if certain conditions were met. This letter was done without the knowledge of the Judge.

13. Angela Haniff had no knowledge of the No-Confidence or the reasons for the Motion, nor was she ever invited to the special seeting to defend the accusations against her. Under this new era of cricket dictatorship there is no respect for justice and no regard for the law.

14. Vice President Winter and Treasurer Bharosay were never invited to any special meeting, while numerous clubs that those so-called administrators thought would not agree to what they wanted were also not invited.

15. A Court Injunction was granted by the High Court against Somwaru, Godwyn Allicock and three others, which were filed by Rabindranauth Saywack and Albert Smith.

16. The majority of Berbicians are not aware of what took place at the meeting but that representatives from Albion, Port Mourant, Whim, Rose Hall Canje, West Berbice, Young Warriors and Tucber Park were in attendance. Young Warriors and Tucber Park did not have voting rights.

17. At a recent public event, Somwaru had been introduced as president, Vickram Suebarran as secretary, Godwyn Allicock as assistant secretary and David Black as the chairman of the Competitions Committee.

18. One is left to wonder which part of the world do people take one another to court and at the same time fill position as Executives. This shows that these people have no respect and regard for the law. Imagine, these persons who are so eager to take over the Berbice Cricket Board were all defeated at the last Annual General Meeting in 2014.

19. They have made efforts to get access to the Berbice Cricket Board’s Bank account and to transfer the telephone line to another address.
The Berbice Cricket Stakeholders would be very grateful for answers to the following questions:

a) when was an election held by the members of the Berbice Cricket Board and who elected Somwaru as president when the three Vice Presidents have the same status?

b) Why are the two persons who filed the Injunctions against the Berbice Cricket Board are now involved in the administration of cricket, when they are responsible for the current state of our cricket.

c) What are the current status of the two elected Vice Presidents of the Berbice Cricket Board, Qualis Winter and Vemen Walter?

d) Why are correspondences signed by D. Somwaru as president and not by the secretary?

e) What is the role that a senior Guyana Cricket Board official is playing in all of this mess? He is known to be present at all of the meetings where he sits at the front giving instructions. He asked the secretary of the Rose Hall Town Youth and Sports Club to be part of the Berbice Cricket Board Steering Committee and he has demanded the removal of Angela Haniff, on the condition that only then the Berbice Cricket Board would receive the subvention from the Guyana Cricket Board.

f) Is it true that Carol Nurse chaired a special meeting at the Albion Club despite the presence of Vice President Vemen Walter? Ms Nurse has no relationship whatsoever with the Berbice Cricket Board.

The Berbice Cricketing Public deserve answers and all members of the Business Sector should be very careful in dealing with these imposters acting as administrators, especially the ones that were defeated at the last Annual General Meeting and who used the Court system as a platform to gain power via the back door. In another press release, we would inform Berbicians of worrying developments on the selection of Berbice teams and the setting of competitions to suit one particular club.

Regards
Berbice Cricket Stakeholders