The entire Guyana Cricket Board Executive was returned en bloc at the board’s Annual General Meeting (AGM) held at the Georgetown Cricket Club yesterday.
The nine members from each of the three county boards, voted unanimously to return the executive after Pritipaul Jaigobin of the Demerara board moved the motion to return the entire executive. President of the Guyana Olympic Association Juman Yassin convened the elections when the 27 electors made his work very easy by returning the current slate.Yassin did ask the quorum if they would like to continue the procedure where the President appoints the chairman of selectors and the selectors or change it to have them elected, another unanimous vote kept the current procedure in place.
Returning president, Chetram Singh, now in his 16th year at the helm of the GCB thanked the electors for their confidence in returning the entire executive.
Singh, who was president of the Demerara Cricket Club from 1984 to 1991 and president of the Demerara Cricket Board from 1992-2000 was first elected president in 1991.
Singh said the board’s plan is to continue their programs such as the under-15, under-17, and under-19 programmes working towards what are necessary for the game to develop in a sustainable method.
“We have to justify the confidence placed in the board by these electors today,” he added.
When asked about challenges facing cricket today the 57-year-old Singh said “Most clubs are not doing well financially. We just gave the three boards $500,000 each and we would like to allocate more if possible.”
Earlier, during the meeting before he was re-elected, he had promised that whatever proceeds were received from a successful Cricket World Cup (CWC) 2007 the board planned to distribute among the clubs specifically to be used for improving infrastructure.
The GCB president, who also serves as a director of the local organizing committee of Guyana World Cup Inc. and a Director of the West Indies Cricket Board, said he was not sure about the board’s role, as regards to the stadium once the CWC 2007 is completed.
“We know the Government will soon hire a Stadium manager and appoint a management committee. When that is completed then I expect our role to be more defined.”
The board members individually thanked the electors for their confidence and promised to continue their efforts aimed at the development of the game.
Sherlock Atwell, a DCC executive board member for over 25 years, said the electors did the right thing by returning the entire board especially with the CWC 2007 just around the corner.
He cautioned the unanimously re-elected members to let cricket be the winner and not the personalities involved.
