GEORGETOWN – Two former Guyana captains and West Indies cricketers,
Clive Lloyd and Roger Harper, are calling last weekend’s Guyana Cricket Board (GCB) elections illegal.
Lloyd and Harper have also taken a swipe at the West Indies Cricket Board (WICB) for sending two invigilators to witness the elections that adopted a new constitution and chose Dru Bahadur as the new president.
Lloyd, the former Windies captain, and Harper, a former offspinner, have accused the GCB of violating the orders of local judges who had banned the holding of any elections.
“There is an injunction in place so they [GCB] cannot operate. The judges made a ruling and you cannot flout the laws of the country,” Lloyd told ESPNcricinfo.
“To me any time you have elections, everybody should take part. [But] Berbice wasn’t there, a great part of Demerara wasn’t there, so the elections could not be legal as such.”
Lloyd and Harper are contending that the elections could not be called legitimate because not all the representatives of the GCB had voted, and as such there was no quorum.
The GCB constitution requires the presence of at least two of the three county boards and a total of 12 delegates to form a quorum to have elections.
The board insists that the Demerara Cricket Board and the Essequibo Cricket Board were in attendance as well as a total of 18 delegates.
But Harper said: “It was illegal.”
He is president of the Georgetown Cricket Association, one of the four constituents of the Demerara Cricket Board (DCB).
“What happened is the true reflection of the people who are trying to grab power in Guyana cricket,” he said.
WICB director Conde’ Riley, who observed the elections, was quoted in the Kaieteur News newspaper as saying he was satisfied with the process.
But Harper has hit out at the WICB for allowing the election to go ahead.
“Knowing the problems in Guyana, it was the responsibility of the WICB, as a parent body, to ensure that the people attending the elections as delegates were entitled to be there,” Harper said.
“It was the WICB’s responsibility to make sure the elections were free and fair and above board.”
The GCB is made up of three main counties: Demerara Cricket Board (DCB), Berbice and Essequibo Cricket Board.
“The WICB cannot condone such a situation. You are in charge of cricket and you should see that such a thing did not happen,” said Lloyd who had stepped down as non-member director of the WICB, citing his role at the WICB was clashing with his loyalty towards Guyana.
“The point is everybody must take part if you want a true cricket board. We want accountability.”
Bahadur, the lone nominee for the top position, was elected unopposed as president of the 12-member executive of the GCB, replacing Fizul Bacchus.
Bacchus acted in the position following the resignation of Ramsey Ali after contentious elections in 2011.
The disputed election had led to the Guyana government dissolving the GCB and replacing it with an interim management committee which the WICB had refused to recognize.
Last week the WICB said it was pleased with the progress being made to resolve the impasse. (CMC)
