GCB preparing proposals for Cricket Administration Bill – to be submitted before Friday’s deadline

By Rajiv Bisnauth –

The Guyana Cricket Board’s Vice President for cricket development, Alfred Mentore said that that the board is presently preparing its proposals for the Cricket Administration Bill 2012.

Mentore disclosed to Guyana Times International Sport via telephone on Wednesday that the proposal will be submitted before the deadline on Friday.
“The board is currently preparing its proposals, each member was asked to make their submission, that was done, so we will make our submission before Friday’s deadline,” Mentore said.
The GCB vice president did not disclose what proposals for submissions were made.
Meanwhile, when reached for a comment on Wednesday, GCB president Drubahadur indicated that he had not yet been briefed about the submissions being made for Friday’s deadline.
The board secretary, Anand Sanasie revealed at the press conference following the GCB’s elections on January 27, that the original bill had many flaws and could not work and that the GCB couldn’t agree with the bill in that form.
The bill seeks to establish the GCB, the DCB, the ECB and the BCB as corporate bodies. It also seeks to replace the existing GCB constitution with a new constitution, with the aim of bringing the GCB in line with the cricket boards of sister Caricom countries.

The bill is divided into five parts with one schedule giving respective boards the powers to effectively manage the affairs of local cricket.
Currently the bill is the subject of much discussion by critical stakeholders within the cricketing fraternity, and is currently receiving the attention of a Special Select Committee of the National Assembly of Guyana.
The special select committee comprises four members of A Partnership for National Unity (APNU), one member from the Alliance for Change (AFC) and four members of the ruling People’s Progressive Party.
The members of the Select Committee are Christopher Jones, Joseph Harmon, Basil Williams, and Dr Rupert Roopnarine of APNU, Kemraj Ramjattan of the AFC, while Odinga Lumumba, Attorney General Anil Nandlall, Sport Minister Dr Frank Anthony and Neil Kumar represent the government.
The Select Committee began deliberations on the bill some five weeks ago.
This publication understands that during those five weeks several amendments were made to the bill based on the submissions received.
Guyana Times International Sport also learnt that the bill could be re-tabled in Parliament sometime next month, once it is dealt with in its entirety by the Select Committee.
The bill was tabled by Sport Minister Dr Frank Anthony last December in a bid to end the impasse between the government of Guyana and its Interim Management Committee (IMC) and the embattled Guyana Cricket Board (GCB) over the state of cricket in Guyana.