Worrying factors in Berbice cricket (Part one)

Dear Editor,

The Berbice Cricket Stakeholder Committee would like to inform the general public of the hijacking of the national game in the ancient county. We are concerned about the direction Berbice cricket is heading and the majority of cricketers and clubs are unaware of who are the persons in charge of the Berbice Cricket Board and when the next cricket tournament would be played at the different levels.What makes the situation worse is that major clubs like the Albion Cricket Club, Rose Hall Town Youth and Sports Club, Blairmont and Upper Corentyne seek to not been involved in the administration of the game while a cricket club which has not won a major cricket title for over 20 years suddenly seems to be controlling Berbice cricket at all angles. The lead characters in the so called Berbice Cricket Board have no major achievements in administration and two of them are directly responsible for the decline of the game from its all-time high under the presidency of Keith Foster to its present state.The Berbice Cricket Stakeholders Committee would like to inform Berbicians of the recent development in Berbice cricket over the last three years.1. Anil Beharry was elected President of the Berbice Cricket Board in December 2014 to replace Keith Foster who was not required to run again after completing three consecutive two-year terms. The three Vice Presidents elected were D Somwaru, Q Winter, V Walter while Angela Haniff and Vicky Bharosay were elected as Secretary and Treasurer respectively.2. Godwyn Allicock of the Port Mourant Cricket Club and David Black of the West Berbice Cricket Association sought and were granted a court injunction against the Berbice Cricket Board on the grounds that two clubs were not supposed to vote due to the fact that their clubs’ names were left out of the Cricket Administration Bill.3. The Anil Beharry-led Berbice Cricket Board was unable to meet for the entire term. According to the Cricket Bill, the term ended in December 2015 after a one-year term.4. Anil Beharry in a letter dated January 29, 2017, electronically submitted a letter of resignation. The letter was addressed to the Berbice Cricket Board Secretary and copied to the Secretary Guyana Cricket Board.5. Resignations to organisations must be accepted by the elected body. No such meeting was ever held.6. Despite the court injunction still in place, Vice President D Somwaru decided to fire all of the appointed members of the Berbice Cricket Board except for Imtiaz Baccus of the Albion Cricket Club. Those fired were Keith Foster, Rabindranauth Saywack, Julian Cambridge, Albert Smith and Malcolm Peters. Imagine Keith Foster never accepted the appointed position and was shocked when he received a letter signed by D Somwaru as President of the Berbice Cricket informing him that he was fired.7. The Cricket Bill passed in the Guyana Parliament simply states that three Vice Presidents shall be elected and does not state 1st, 2nd or 3rd Vice President. All three Vice Presidents – Somwaru, Winter and Walter – have the same status and one is left to wonder how Somwaru took it upon himself to appoint himself as President. 8. Vice President Winter has never been invited to any meeting to discuss Berbice cricket since the resignation of Anil Beharry as President.9. In a letter Somwaru signing as President (ag), invited certain clubs to a special meeting of the Berbice Cricket Board to discuss the following:a) No-Confidence Motion against the Secretary, Angela Haniff.b) Removal of non-functioning clubs from the membership of the Berbice Cricket Board.c) Acceptance of three clubs into the membership of the Berbice Cricket Board once they apply to do so.10. The Constitution of the Berbice Cricket Board clearly states that only the Secretary can send notices for special meeting and all motions must be submitted to the Secretary.The Berbice cricketing public deserves answers and all members of the business sector should be very careful in dealing with these imposters acting as administrators, especially the ones that were defeated at the last Annual General Meeting and who used the court system as a platform to gain power via the back door.
Sincerely,Berbice CricketStakeholder Committee