– Sanasie promised to work with elected body

FORMER Chairman of the Special Events Committee of the Berbice Cricket Board (BCB), Hilbert Foster, has been declared winner of the BCB’s presidential election yesterday.
He defeated former president Dhierandranauth Somwaru, 18 votes to 16 when the electoral process was held at the New Amsterdam Town Hall.

The election of Foster, a 49-year-old experienced cricket administrator with a reputation for impartiality and competence, has raised the hopes for a complete turnaround of the game in the Ancient County, both on and off the field.

Observers described the elections as a “way station” to administrative stability and full equality of all stakeholders, since they believed that Foster is a man perceived to be popular and performance-oriented.

“This is the person we needed…someone who has the game at heart, someone who can take Berbice’s cricket to where it belongs,” Keith Hicks, the father of former national wicket-keeper Delbert Hicks, said after the elections.

For the last several years, the administration of the game was thrown into turmoil.
In fact, ever since the board’s 2014 elections, a number of legal actions have prevented the proper administration of the game.

But Foster, who promised to eradicate the differences in his first term, presented an early opportunity for all stakeholders to work with his administration.
Foster promised to be the president for every Berbician, adding that every youth in Berbice must have the equal opportunity to represent the County.

“Over the last couple of years Berbice’s cricket has suffered with very few cricket being played, and I want you to know that starting tomorrow (today) a great effort will be made to make sure that cricket is played from the Under-13 to the first division level, since we will be looking to do between 13 to 15 competitions before year end,” Foster said.
The new BCB boss added “Like we did in the past, we will have inter-zone cricket, so that we can revived village cricket, which is the key”.

Foster, who is the Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of Guyana’s most successful sport club, the Rose Hall Town Youth and Sport Club MS, indicated that the BCB will be the most transparent cricket club in Guyana.

The election was scheduled following a ruling delivered by Justice Navindra Singh on December 18 last, where he mandated new elections.
In the Judge’s ruling, he ordered an Agent of the Court to convene the meeting for the purpose of election being held.

That Order was clearly carried out, where the Agent verified the presence of the delegates/representatives of the various clubs and associations from the lists approved by the court.

After which the verified delegates/representatives then voted for a Returning Officer. Chief Executive Officer of the New Amsterdam Hospital, Colin Bynoe and Secretary of the Guyana Cricket Board, Anand Sanasie, were nominated for the post.

However, after an Open ballot was conducted, Bynoe defeated Sanasie 18 votes to 16. Thereafter, the list of verified delegates/representatives was presented to Bynoe, who took over the electoral process.

There were four persons indicated via letters their willingness to accept nomination for the BCB’s top post. They were Somwaru, Foster, Rabindranauth Saywack and Lesile Solomon.
After verifying the list of delegates/representatives of the various clubs and associations, the Returning Officer then opened the floor for nomination for the position of President.
Foster was nominated by Dennis D’Andrade and seconded by Albert Smith while Somwaru was nominated and seconded by David Black and Carol Nurse respectively.

After the nomination was closed and the election concluded, Foster came out victorious. The position of first vice-president was then the next order of business. Black and Smith were the nomination on the floor, but after a tie in the first round of voting, where each delegate collected 17 votes each, Smith won the second round of voting, 18 votes to 16.
Nominations for the second vice-president were Jevaughn Stephens and Imtiaz Bacchus, but Stephens was declared the winner with 18 votes compared to Bacchus, who got 16.
The position for the third vice-president was taken by Qualis Winer, who was nominated unopposed.

The position of secretary went for a second vote after the nominations of Saywack and Vickram Seubarran went 17 votes each in round one. Seywack then defeated Seubarran 18 votes to 16.

The position of assistant secretary, treasurer and assistant treasurer were all straight forward.

Ameer Rahaman defeated Carol Nurse 18 votes to 16 for the position of assistant secretary; Dr. Cecil Beharry overpowered Godwin Allicock 18 votes to 16 while Winston Roberts had the same win margin over Lesile Solomon for the position of assistant treasurer.

After the electoral process, Sanasie said his job was to observe the elections which he did. He, however, feels the process was done in a manner that is democratic; hence, the GCB will be working with the elected body.