Bissoondyal Singh was yesterday elected president of the Guyana Cricket Board (GCB).
The elections were held in accordance with the date set by Minister of Culture, Youth and Sport, Charles Ramson Jnr., with the Cricket Ombudsman functioning as the returning officer at Parc Rayne, Rahaman’s Park.
The elections saw the respective delegates from the Berbice and Demerara Cricket Boards turning up while the Essequibo Cricket Board (ECB) was a no-show.
BCB president, Hilbert Foster, duly nominated Singh, the Demerara Cricket Board president, for the post of GCB president.
That nomination was seconded by Raymond Barton and Singh was subsequently elected unopposed.
Singh, during his victory speech, thanked all those involved, declaring that it is a privilege to serve along with the group of executives who were “carefully selected and therefore elected.”
The president thanked the Cricket Ombudsman for accepting the task and his “careful and professional” manner in conducting a transparent process.
He lauded Attorney-at-Law Arundranauth Gossai for being “at the forefront of the struggle for democracy in Guyana’s cricket,” and Minister Ramson Jnr.,, who he described as “possibly the best Minister of Sport Guyana has ever produced,” saying he is professional and at the same time have the people’s business at heart.
“When it looked everything was entering the world of despair, this dynamic minister intervened and expeditiously brought this to sanity. The decency we all wanted came thereafter the Minister intervention and with his class expeditiously brought this to an end and is giving us an opportunity to fix this.”
The GCB boss said that they will be heading in a direction of inclusivity as they look to partner with corporate Guyana and will aggressively consult with President of Guyana, Dr. Mohamed Irfaan Ali and by extension also his government, moreso, Minister Ramson Jr., among others.
The new GCB head pledged that his administration will deliver, being the servants of the people with a transparent and democratic policy as it relates to the management of the sport in Guyana.
“We will be held accountable. We ask you to work with us in this monumental task. Cricket, as you know, is in a terrible state and we have to start all the way from the bottom which we will do shortly,” Singh stated.
Former West Indies captain, Ramnaresh Sarwan, will be the new chairman of the senior selection panel and Andre Percival will lead the junior selection panel. Roger Harper and Anil Beharry were also appointed Technical Cricket Experts.
The GCB President disclosed that Foster will join him as the two Directors on the board of Cricket West Indies.
Foster was elected second vice-president with responsibility for Cricket Development while Rabindranath Saywack defeated Azad Abrahim by 13 votes to five for the position of first vice-president with responsibility for administration. This position was the only one to go to a vote.
Ronald Williams and Davteerth Anandjit were elected Secretary and Assistant Secretary while Pretipaul Jaigobin and Dr. Cecil Beharry were elected to the posts of Treasurer and Assistant Treasurer respectively.
Shaun Massiah was elected as Chairman of the Competitions Committee and Mohamed Baksh was unopposed for the position of Chairman of the Marketing Committee.
Claude Rapheal was elected as Public Relations Officer along with Elroy Stephney and Andre Forsythe as the two Trustees and Jack Alli Sons and Company as the Auditors.
