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Letter to the Sports Editor…95% of the stakeholders committed perjury and faces contempt of court charges also

Jun 22, 2014 Sports

 

Dear Sports Editor,

Recent regular publications in the state owned Guyana Chronicle and the Guyana Times championing the cause of a group calling themselves “stakeholders of Guyana’s cricket”, caused me to do some research on this Group. The name itself had an important ring to it, but upon a closer review and examination of the facts surrounding the actual persons that make up this bunch of former administrators, it proved to be quite revealing and depressing at the same time.

I was eager to learn exactly who these rather influential persons could have been since they are now claiming to have caused the Government and APNU to pass the controversial “Cricket Administration Bill”.

What I found during my investigations was a plethora of lies and misrepresentations, some of which can be definitely classified as perjuries for making false declarations to Parliament. Hereunder, is a brief summary table of my investigations for the public to learn about these individuals:

Name Representative body declared to Parliament My Investigation/Comments
  1. Ms. Angela Haniff
 Berbice Cricket Board Secretary of BCB-Possibly only innocent person
  1. Mr. Malcolm Peters
 Berbice Cricket Board
  • Not an elected officer of BCB
  • Former V.P of GCB
  • Former President of BCB
  • Currently holds no official office in the GCB administrative structure
  1. Mr. Bissoondyal Singh.
 East Coast Cricket Board
  • Former V.P of GCB
  • Former President of DCB
  • ECCB did not have elections since 2011, so Mr. Singh cannot be officially be a representative of ECCB.
  1. Mr. Roger Harper
 Georgetown Cricket Association Purportedly current President of GCA. Did not have elections since January 2012. Moved his elections to November 2014. Members moved to court to force AGM which is still to be held.

Technically in office by default.
  1. Mr. Prem Persaud
 Secretary, West Demerara Cricket League No such Club or Association exists in DCB or GCB structure. Bissoondyal Singh and Claude Raphael fabricated this League to oppose the legitimate body in West Demerara, the WDCA.
  1. Mr. Bradley Fredericks
 UDCA Not legitimate as the legal body was taken to court by Mr. Fredericks and associates (Raphael and B. Singh)
  1. Mr. Marvin Burns
 UDCA Not legitimate and also involved in allegations of misappropriation of funds in a previous UDCA administration which included his wife.
  1. Mr. Fazal Ishak
 Peters Hall Sports Club and East Bank Demerara Cricket Association
  • Not a member of the Executive Committee of nor authorized by East Bank Demerara Cricket Association.
  • Had exclusive right to all GCB transportation needs. Lost contract when the GCB new Executive took office and bought its own bus.
  1. Mr. Omar Bacchus
 Georgetown (Match Referee) Not an official of the GCA Executive. Not an official Match Referee of DCB or GCB.
  1. Mr. Saeed Alik Khan
 East Bank Demerara Cricket Association Not an executive of EBDCA and not authorized to represent same.
  1. MR. CLAUDE RAPHAEL
Demerara Cricket Board Not an executive of DCB and is not authorized to represent the DCB. In fact is one of the parties injuncted in the Mangal v. Bissoondyal Singh etal matter from representing himself as a representative of DCB and is now eligible for contempt of court.

Removed as WICB Director in 2009.
  1. Mr. Feizal Mohamed
East Bank Demerara Cricket Association Not an executive of the EBDCA and is not authorized to represent the EBDCA.
  1. Mr. Norman Mclean
 Former President of the GCB, and Former Manager of West Indies Touring team.
  • Was not Manager but the Assistant Manager of the WICB touring team
  • Mr. Chetram Singh replaced Mr. Mclean in 1991 as President of GCB at a time when the GCB was bankrupt. This is the same GCB now declared a non entity.
  • Was a member of the Government IMC convened to replace the legitimate GCB
  1. Mr. Winston Boston
 Georgetown
  • Not an executive of the GCA.
  • A friend and close confidante of Claude Raphael.
  • Reports suggest he is a Security Guard.
  1. Mr. Ronald Williams
 Member of IMC
  • Was never an official member of the Government IMC for cricket
  • Former GCB Assistant Secretary
  • Aspired to be Secretary of GCB but was rejected by the electorate

Ladies and gentlemen, the above synopsis clearly indicates a group of displeased former administrators.

It is important to note that these records were extracted directly from the Parliamentary Minutes of the Select Committee, so we now know who really are the “stakeholders” that are supposed to make Guyana’s Cricket succeed.

What amazed me while conducting this research is that everyone; the GCB, the Parliamentary Select Committee, Government, the opposition parties, and all of us failed to identify, early enough, that this group of administrators have caused problems for our cricket and have since ventured into the highest law-making body of the land and misled the lawmakers by making the above blatant misrepresentations.

It is now incumbent upon the Government, the Speaker of the National Assembly and the Clerk of Assembly to now carefully review the Parliamentary records referred to herein and refer these individuals to the appropriate authority for the blatant misrepresentations of themselves and in the process committing the major criminal offence of perjury in the National Assembly. I am aware that a similar investigation was ordered against the DCB when it was alleged by this same group of Stakeholders that the DCB had submitted a fake document to the Committee. That investigation has died a natural death when it was learnt that the DCB document was indeed prepared by one of the above stakeholders’ colleague.

In conducting this research, there is something significant that I discovered and it would be remiss of me not to mention: The GCB, DCB and ECB all made comprehensive submissions to the Parliamentary Select Committee, all of which were totally ignored by the Select Committee. However, the “stakeholders group” made two presentations, both orally and in writing, and even had a Parliamentary representative from Linden making similar representations. The Cricket Administration Bill was crafted solely upon the submissions by this group of Stakeholders.

It is also significant to note that the Berbice Cricket Board was the only Guyana Cricket Board member not to make an independent submission to the Parliamentary Select Committee. Most surprising is that the BCB Constitution, appended to the Bill, does not require all of their clubs to play cricket to be eligible to vote at their AGM. The Select Committee thought it wise not to interfere nor amend this most deficient constitution but proceeded to truncate the GCB & DCB constitutions to suit the agenda of the Stakeholders.

In summation, I am contending that the entire process of the Select Committee, having hearings and submissions, was an absolute circus and a complete waste of time and taxpayers’ money since the “stakeholders” are just a bunch of sour former administrators trying to hijack power through the back door and using their friends in the political hierarchy. But it may very well have been designed to be a charade since the state media continues to advance the cause of this Group who are claiming that they approached the Government to pass a Cricket Bill.

I am suggesting that both the Government and opposition parties stop the Bill and relook at the flawed process that resulted in its passage. At the same time, jail those who committed perjury through misrepresentations to Parliament.

We are left to wonder- Did the government really act because of misrepresentations from the “stakeholders”? If so, the Government needs to correct this situation immediately.

Melinda Bishundyal

Cricket Administrator

 

 

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