-BCB moves motion for term life of president
AMIDST all the controversy surrounding the day to day affairs of the Guyana Cricket Board (GCB), Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of Sterling Products Limited (SPL) Ramsay Ali was yesterday elected unopposed to govern the affairs of cricket in Guyana. Even the Berbice Cricket Board (BCB) who had earlier stated they would not be participating in the elections of office bearers to the GCB due to numerous discrepancies, turned up at the Annual General Meeting which was held in the pavilion of the Georgetown Cricket Club, and moved a motion that will see a new term life for any GCB president.
Under the BCB’s motion which was widely received by those in attendance at the AGM, including both Rajendra Singh  and Bissoondyal Singh  and outgoing president Chetram Singh, the term life of any GCB president shall be (3) two year terms, after which he or she would have to seek re-election.
In his remarks, outgoing president and long serving director of the West Indies Cricket Board (WICB) Chetram Singh said a heartfelt thank you to those who  supported him over the years, while saying he will have enough time for his family, and on the same note highlighted the last two years of his stewardship as the worst ever.
Both Chetram Singh and Lionel Jackman were handed the position of Trustees of the GCB, which they  accepted without any objections.
Former Georgetown Cricket Association (GCA) president Alfred Mentore and Essequibo Cricket Board’s (ECB) vice- president Faizal Bacchus were elected to serve as vice presidents to Ali, with West Demerara Cricket Association president Anand Sanasie retaining his post as Secretary.
Dru Bahadur will serve as Sanasie’s assistant, while Finance Controller of SOL Guyana Limited Anand Kalladeen will execute the duties of Treasurer and former Georgetown Football Association (GFA) president Troy Mendonca replacing Ali as the Marketing Manager.
BCB’s Treasurer Anil Beharry was elected Assistant Treasurer on the new executive which also sees Terry Holder returning as the GCB’s Public Relations Officer, but in a telephone conversation with Chronicle Sport, Beharry said he cannot accept the post, as same will not be in accordance with the stand taken by the BCB.
According to Beharry, even though the BCB participated in the AGM as their president Keith Foster was there along with vice- president David Black, they did not participate in the elections, hence he cannot accept the position of Assistant Treasurer.
Sanasie also informed Chronicle Sport of the Rajendra Singh faction of the Demerara Cricket Board (DCB) presence at the meeting with two legal opinions stating that they had the right to do so, but was denied same by the outgoing president.
And while there was much bickering and opinions being aired with regards to the financial status of the GCB prior to the AGM, private auditors Barcellos, Narine and Company whose representative Candace Parjon was present to field any questions, did not receive any queries from the concerned GCB executives.
Instead, questions were directed to outgoing Treasurer and president of the ECB Sheik Ahmad, following which the audited statement was adopted, while Barcellos, Narine and Company were retained by the newly elected executives to audit the finances of the GCB.
In his acceptance speech following the elections which saw Attorney-at-Law Sanjeev Datadin executing the duties of Returning Officer and all the executives being elected unopposed, the new president Ramsay  Ali promised to put cricket first in the true sense of the phrase.
“After 18 months of turmoil for the GCB it is time to put cricket first in the true sense of putting cricket first. We the executives of the GCB intend to let the public decide whether we are doing a good job for cricket, while we do intend to do good things for cricket.
“Today we will be  having our first executive meeting, with one of our big plans being the development of cricket in the secondary schools, while we will also be strengthening our first division clubs by allocating funding to them,” said Ali.
He added, “The drafting of a Constitution where there will be new term limits for presidents because I don’t want to head cricket forever will also be discussed, while we intend to meet with the auditors and address all the issues of financial impropriety and clear them up as quickly as possible.”
First and foremost for the new executive will be the hosting of the WICB organized TCL sponsored Regional Under-19 championships which is set to bowl off in Guyana next Monday, followed by two female Twenty20 Internationals between Pakistan and the West Indies at the Guyana National Stadium, in September.
The new executive body of the GCB reads: Ramsay Ali (president), Faizal Bacchus and Alfred Mentore (vice-presidents), Anand Sanasie (Secretary), Dru Bahadur (Assistant Secretary), Anand Kalladeen (Treasurer), Terry Holder (PRO), Troy Mendonca (Marketing Manager) and Chetram Singh and Lionel Jackman (Trustees).