PRESIDENT of the Berbice Cricket Board (BCB) Keith Foster is calling on the newly elected executive of the Guyana Cricket Board (GCB), led by Ramsay Ali, to iron out the malpractice issues that surround the finance of the governing body for cricket in Guyana.
Speaking with Chronicle Sport, Foster who by way of the GCB constitution is an executive member of that body, said such irregularities among others, were the reasons the BCB refused to exercise its right to vote at the just concluded elections.
“First of all, the BCB believes the GCB under past president Chetram Singh’s watch should have intervened and rectified the problems that were facing the Demerara Cricket Board (DCB) before it got out of hand and reached the stage it is at now.
The BCB believes that the DCB is an important component in Guyana’s cricket and the GCB should have played a much better role in ensuring the problems the DCB were undergoing were rectified in a timely manner, in the interest of cricket here in Guyana,” said Foster.
He added, “Another one of our reasons for not exercising our right to vote is the malpractice that is being seen with the GCB’s financial status. Even at the AGM which was held on Sunday, the assistant treasurer highlighted a few irregularities with the finance and all that occurred was same being noted by the outgoing president, but no proper answer was given.
Following that, a motion was passed and seconded by the Essequibo Cricket Board (ECB) for the acceptance of the Audited statement, even though to my mind certain issues surrounding same needed to be rectified.”
Asked if his Board is willing to work along with the newly elected body, having unanimously declared its non-participation in the elections, Foster said they will sit and meet in the not-too-distant future.
“It was a unanimous decision made by the BCB executives that we will not partake in the elections of office-bearers, based on the above highlighted subjects among others. This was further punctuated at the AGM under the subject ‘Any Other Business’, following which the meeting was drawn to a closure and we walked out.
“The fact that one of our executives in vice-president David Black made himself present to vote at the elections is questionable and will be dealt with at an executive meeting of the BCB, because we were not pleased with the way matters were handled at the AGM as to our mind, cricket was not placed first, Foster lamented.
Added to that, the BCB will also be examining our position with regard to the new executive body and while I would like to say much more on their behalf,  I cannot do so since I am an executive on that body as stipulated by the GCB’s constitution.”
Questioned on the motion that was accepted with regard to the term life of a president, Foster said his body thought of it based on the timeline being given to an individual to execute his or her plans.
“We believe that an individual should be given ample time to execute his plans. Not to say that that person cannot do so within a two-year period, since anything is possible once there is cooperation, but the new idea was proposed with the view of having the president set a standard and at the same time raise the threshold for the next president to follow,” said Foster.
The elder Foster, whose brother Hilbert serves the BCB as its Public Relations Officer, said he was left in shock when he also proposed that development funds received from the West Indies Cricket Board (WICB) should be divided between the three county boards and the GCB,  and was turned down by the Essequibo Cricket Board (ECB).
“The BCB made two recommendations at the AGM and while the first one with regard to a president’s shelf life was positively received, our second recommendation which deals with developmental funds received from the WICB, was surprisingly turned down by the ECB.
I wanted to ask the president of that Board, if they were financially sound, since to my judgment, such a move would be of great interest to the County of Essequibo, but decided against it.
My proposal was a simple one since I recommended that all developmental funds received by the GCB from the WICB be used in a manner which will see 50% of it go to the three Counties and the other 50% to the GCB’s coffers and while the ECB head was against same, the new president said he will examine it closely, which to my mind is a positive move,” stated Foster.
Foster is hoping that cricket is placed first and foremost on the agenda, especially given the state of Guyana’s performance at the Regional level over the past four years, where we finished within the final two places from the bottom of the ladder.