THE executive and members of the North Essequibo Cricket Committee (NECC) strongly condemn the blatant, dismissive and deliberate act by the executives of the Essequibo Cricket Board (ECB) to gag the President of the North Essequibo Cricket Committee, Mr. Prince Holder. 

The decision was made, via a Motion passed at the ECB’S Annual General Meeting held on 2014-01-19, which debarred Mr. Holder from speaking at the meeting, and any further forum to be held by the Board.
Mr. Holder is the NECC’S constitutionally-elected representative to the ECB. Interestingly, present at the AGM also were Mr. Dhru Bahudhur and Mr. Anand Sanasie, President and Secretary respectively of the Guyana Cricket Board (GCB), both of whom took an active role in the proceedings.
The Committee is asking the question: Isn’t this collusion between the ECB and GCB of executive lawlessness? Mr. Holder was ostracized for the ludicrous claim that he had wasted the ECB’S time following an issue he had raised at a statutory meeting that implicated an executive member of the Board.
As a responsible and dedicated administrator, Mr. Holder continues to represent the welfare of its players, and in doing so, he sought the Board’s intervention regarding a serious complaint made by a group of under-15 players from the County.
The issue surrounded the alleged irresponsible and unacceptable behaviour of the Coach during the players’ encampment in 2013. The Coach is an executive member of both the Essequibo and Guyana Cricket Board.
The players had reported that the individual was allegedly under the influence of alcohol, and proceeded to take some of them from their beds one evening, turned the lights off, and began throwing cricket balls at them to catch while using obscene language.
Mr. Holder intervened, and brought the issue to the attention of the ECB at a statutory meeting. A date was set for an investigation. Mr. Holder subsequently contacted the parents of the affected cricketers, seeking their permission to allow their children to attend the meeting. The parents, however, had expressed the fear that their children would have been victimized. The request was therefore denied by the parents.
This matter did not resurface until the Board’s AGM, which took the opportunity to gag Mr. Holder, in his absence, since he arrived at the meeting about 20 minutes after the scheduled start, and decided that he had wasted the Board’s time, hence his sanction.
The NECC also wishes to record that a letter was written by a parent of one of the affected players to the GCB regarding the same incident, yet nothing was done.
The isolation of Mr. Holder means that the North Essequibo Cricket Committee, which organizes the most cricket competitions and is the central area for most activities of the Board, will not have a voice as a constitutional representative of the ECB.
The Committee views this as undemocratic and dictatorial, since it is a deliberate attempt to silence Mr. Holder, especially since he has been openly critical of the Board’s inefficiencies, both at the local and national level.
In light of Mr. Holder’s sanction, the NECC is seeking answers on the following issues that continue to negatively impact on the image and function of the ECB:
1: Why is the ECB Bowling Machine still not in operation, and remains at the Secretary’s home after four years?
2: Why has the office of the Administrator never been used, yet the individual continues to be paid by the GCB?
3: The Hostel is not properly furnished, yet it is being regularly used to host other activities other than cricket. The proceeds were never spent on its rehabilitation. Why?
4: An Under-15 player, who is a relative of the ECB Under-15 Coach, was selected for the County and subsequently for the country in 2013. A Senior Coach of the ECB knew that the player was over-aged, based on his records, but the ECB, including the junior Coach, who also is a selector, thought otherwise. He subsequently had to be withdrawn from the national team after he could not have produced his Birth Certificate. Why the GCB did not launch an investigation against this deliberate mischief and offence?
5: Why is the ECB President personally holding shares, in the name of the ECB, in a virtually secretive company created by the GCB as DEB Essentials? Can the President declare what the shares have been used for and what is the figure?
6: The ECB never held an inventory of the Board’s assets. The Hostel is rapidly deteriorating, and the utensils and other equipment — including plates, glasses, chairs and mattresses — are being frequently borrowed by executives of the Board and even destroyed. Are these assets the personal property of the executives?
These are some of the burning issues that the ECB must address, instead of being visionless and vindictive against another Committee. The NECC and Mr. Holder will not be silenced, since the decision by the ECB can be viewed as being injurious and malicious.
The NECC therefore wishes to publicly request that the Motion be withdrawn, and appeals for democracy to remain as the only mandate by which the ECB should be governed.

Hakim Khan

Secretary,
NECC