By Royston Alkins
A handful of disgruntled members of the Demerara Cricket Club (DCC), Tuesday evening showed up at the Georgetown Cricket Association (GCA) annual general meeting to air their frustration at the waning state of affairs at the Queenstown club, commonly referred to as the `Home of Legends.’
DCC has not held its Annual General Meeting nor was ordinary meeting in over three years it alleged.
The petition, reportedly sent to GCA president Roger Harper on January, 17, 2017, stated: “There has been neither Annual General Meeting nor Ordinary Meeting at the Demerara Cricket Club since the very questionable elections which took place on April 24th, 2014. Therefore the term of that 2014 executive expired in 2015 which makes this executive body illegal.”
The petition was read by Harper just as the association’s election of office bearers was about to commence so as to ascertain whether or not Mentore would be allowed to vote legally on behalf of DCC.
Harper, who admitted that the situation was a sensitive one, opted to resolve the over-boiling saga in the most democratic way by asking the other club representatives for proposed solutions.
“This is a strange case for me as the president of the GCA. I think I have to put this one to the floor,” he suggested.
University of Guyana (UG) Sports Coordinator, Lavern Fraser-Thomas, suggested that the association should hold a meeting with the executives and signatories of the petition to resolve the issue. She then raised an important point by asking whether the GCA has any constitutional provision for dealing with the matter.
However Mentore said the reason for there not being any AGM was because some of the very members whose names were on the petition had sought an injunction seeking to prevent his executive from functioning after bei8ng voted into office in April 2014.
“While I’m admit that there hasn’t been elections, there is an order before you (Harper) and it’s a shame that you didn’t read that order,” Mentore said.
“In 2014, some of the very disgruntled members took the DCC to court seeking an injunction restraining the executive members from functioning.
The injunction was refused in August 2014 and the matter then took its normal course and was only determined in 2016,” Mentore said adding that he plans to stage the AGM later this month.
He also pointed out that the GCA was guilty of a similar act.
“The GCA themselves have been serving without holding elections for three years,” Mentore said.
He said that the GCA is a “creature” of all the clubs and as such the GCA does not have the mandate to dictate what happens inside the club or its affairs.
