Latest update February 5th, 2025 11:03 AM
Government not in receipt of GCB’s audited reports
Chetram Singh
– advises AGM not to be advertised until…
An anticipated Annual General Meeting (AGM) of the Guyana Cricket Board (GCB) in which a new executive is expected to be elected this month-end has been thrown into limbo with government saying that it has not received the 2010 audited report or annual returns.
Registrar of the Friendly Societies, Kareem Abdul-Jabar, in a letter dated January 5th to the GCB’s President, Chetram Singh, and the Board’s Committee, also advised the AGM not be advertised until the release of the report.
Several names including Bish Panday, Bissoondial Singh, Ramsay Ali, Clyde Butts, Roger Harper and Claude Raphael, among others, have been bandied around as candidates for the coveted Presidential post of GCB, a powerful position held by Chetram Singh who has signaled his intentions not to run again.
The elections would also come at a time when the GCB’s operations have been placed in the spotlight and one of its senior functionaries attacked and horribly disfigured in a incident early last year.
Abdul-Jabar, whose department falls under the Ministry of Labour, Human Services and Social Security, in the letter to the Board pointed out that PKF Barcellos, Narine & Co were appointed on December 3rd to audit the records of the society for the period December 1, 2009 to November 30, 2010.
“…I am not in receipt of a completed Audit Report, nor the Annual Returns for the appointed period, as such, I cannot guarantee that the Audited Report would be reviewed and released in time for you to have such a meeting on or before the 30th January, 2011,” the official said in a letter to the Board.
“As a consequent, I am hereby advising that you do not advertise the Annual General Meeting until the release of the Audit Report.”
Under the Friendly Societies Act, the Ministry has authority to intervene if it is convinced that an organization is not being run according to regulations. These include timely, audited reports; proper members’ register, among other critical operational issues.
It was a stormy 2010 for the GCB with accusations of financial turmoil with the body which oversees cricket and its development across the country. In May, Assistant Treasurer, Pretipaul Jaigobin, was attacked on the East Coast Demerara and his face badly disfigured with acid.
Jaigobin reportedly stopped at a shop when a man approached him and threw the acid. It is believed that the incident stemmed from Jaigobin’s stance on a number of issues, including finances of the GCB.
The elections has been heating up as Guyana’s prepares for a post-Chetram Singh led GCB. With the Guyana team suffering mixed fortunes and cricket seemingly on the decline, there has been increasing pressure to GCB’s to perform.
Even the private sector has expressed its dissatisfaction over the state of affairs.
According to Ramesh Dookhoo, Chairman of the Private Sector Commission (PSC) in a report said, any new president should ensure good governance is key with the executive’s integrity an unquestionable one.
He also cited what seemed to be a glaring lack of announced plans on the future of cricket by some candidates who have signaled intentions to run for President of GCB.
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