Cricket enthusiast responds to Claude Raphael

Jan 14, 2011 Letters

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Dear Editor,
I notice two recent letters to the press written by Messrs Hardeo Oudit and Claude Raphael. Both of these letters contain very startling information regarding the contestants to the Guyana Cricket Board (GCB) presidency.
When I started to read Mr. Raphael’s letter, I could have sworn he was making out a case for himself to announce his candidacy for the position of GCB President.
He seems to think that reeling out a list of distinguished names in cricket automatically elevates his profile.
Service on a Committee or being a member on that Committee does not automatically translate into achievements or accomplishments for oneself. There are two things that I wholeheartedly agree with Mr. Raphael on; namely, his role in the Malteenoes cricket academy, primarily financed by the GCB, which I think was his signal achievement during his cricket administrative days and the need for proper succession planning and a strategic plan for all organisations.
Some of the other details outlined in his lengthy letter are contradictory and conflicting whilst some are downright contentious. My recollection says that Shivnarine Chanderpaul and Carl Hooper plied their trade at the GCC for the majority of their formative years until they were selected to wear WI colours and are considered as GCC products rather than Malteenoes.
This is the first time I am hearing such diatribe coming from Mr. Raphael. Having played a few matches for his Club, even if they did, does not make them a product of his Club. Mr. Raphael should answer what his Club has produced of note in the last decade.
Mr. Raphael launched into a tirade against Mr. Ali, mainly for his lack of attendance at meetings, and is definitely upset that veteran sports journalist Reds Perreira has endorsed Mr. Ali for the presidency. Mr. Ali needs to respond to these non-attendance allegations. However, Mr. Raphael should tell the public how many of those meetings he was actually awake for; it may prove to be that Mr. Ali’s sparse attendance and contribution to those meetings may very well have been more valuable than those of Mr. Raphael.
Mr. Raphael is proud of his claim that he was the first President of the GCA and served as President of the DCB. The GCA position was thrust upon him since he was a lieutenant of Chetram Singh at that time and he obtained the DCB Presidency after helping to disrupt cricket on the East Bank and sidelining that area Board from voting
at the DCB elections.
At that time in 2003, himself and SK Singh were the trusted soldiers of Mr. Chetram Singh. Here is where his hypocrisy and contradictions enter. Because of this I find it strange that he has criticised Mr. Bish Panday for being part of the establishment and not doing anything to change the course of things, whilst he was in the key position of Secretary when he himself was also a key part of the establishment. Mr. Raphael was such a close confidante of Mr. Chetram Singh that he (Raphael) replaced Mr. Panday as a WI Director in 2007 probably when it was learnt that Bish was thinking of mounting a challenge to Chetram.
So this begs the question, why would someone perceived as close to the General as Raphael was to Chetram or the chosen one choose to oppose someone(Bish) who wanted to rock the establishment? And now, why is Raphael so vehemently opposed to the policies and operations of Chetram and the GCB, after being an integral part of the establishment for close to two decades? There must be a logical reason.
This will be revealed later on after I have dealt with his other “accomplishments”. I must thank him for outlining his cricket administration profile which has significantly aided me here in my analysis of his ramblings. I would like him to outline his contribution to the WICB during his tenure as a Director just as he did in his letter which was sadly lacking in substance.
Mr. Raphael announced that he is the Chairman of the Senior Selection panel since 2004. I would not even mention Mr. Raphael’s performance at trials and practice matches prior to selection as this issue was fully ventilated above when I referenced his frequent sleeping habits. He may have been in attendance but what he saw we can only dream about or did he dream about the team he was selecting or is this his way of selecting his ‘dream team’ by a process of sleeping then selecting.
Mr. Raphael has been in charge of the Senior Selection panel whilst his proposed Presidential candidate, Mr. Bissoondyal Singh, took over from him as Cricket Development Head of the GCB in 2009. It would be useful for either of these blokes to enumerate the achievements of the Guyana senior team in the last decade when these same two persons held key positions that were directly responsible for the plummeting decline of our cricket. I am conscious of my redundancy here and it is deliberate. In addition, he can also outline the achievements of his preferred candidate as the President of the Demerara Cricket Board. How can you support a proven failure?
It is on record that Mr. Bissoondyal Singh has publicly stated at a conciliatory meeting initiated by the Secretary of the DCB since October 2009 with the Vice President of the DCB that if he does not get what he wants, “he will bruck up everything” (his own words). Is this the type of person we want to lead us?
Now, back to the genesis of this whole fiasco; the raison d’être behind Raphael’s flip-flop against Chetram and Bish; Mr. Raphael’s grouse erupted when he was replaced as a WI Board director in 2009 by Mr. Sanasie.
He is against Bish because he no longer holds any executive position on the GCB and cannot help his cause in any way.
He also became aware that Chetram was moving on in the next election cycle and, thus, surreptitiously sought to undermine the operations and integrity of the GCB.
He formed a strategic alliance with the other power grabbers, Bissoondyal Singh and Jaigobin and started his plot to regain the Directorship of the WICB.
One wonders what he has been using this position for as there definitely is a strong measure of desperation here. I have some information in this regard, but would like to close now by wishing Mr. Raphael the very best of health in 2011and beyond.
K. Mangal

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