At yesterday’s press conference, held at the Georgetown Cricket Club pavilion, DCB president Paul Chan-A-Sue told the media that “we are now fully convinced after having the cold hard facts facing us that these developments were carefully calculated and coordinated by key elements in the hierarchy of the GCB with the sole aim of overthrowing the legally elected Executive of the DCB.”

Among the developments the DCB president was referring to were the no-confidence motion filed by the Georgetown Cricket Association (GCA) and the East Coast Cricket Board (ECCB) seeking a Special General Meeting to unseat the entire executive of the DCB, the earlier injunction by several first division clubs in Georgetown which caused the resignation of Chan-A-Sue as the GCA president and major hindrances in the acquiring of grounds by the East Bank and West Demerara Cricket Associations.

Chan-A-Sue pointed out that despite all the problems, the DCB has never resorted to the powers of the Court to resolve them.

Referring to the time when he was the duly elected president of the GCA, on January 17 this year, the DCB president said he was confronted with a motion of no confidence, alleging that he unilaterally excluded some delegates from voting at the DCB elections. The allegation, he said, had no basis and all of the proper procedures were followed, “but as I intend to show, this is just one of a series of obstacles placed in the way of the DCB Executive and its objectives”.

Chan-A-Sue said there was a propaganda campaign to suggest that somehow, it was wrong for him to hold the presidencies of both the GCA and DCB.

Describing the campaign as strange, Chan-A-Sue pointed out that his predecessor held the presidencies of both the DCB and GCB concurrently without any comment from any quarter, even though he had held these positions for over 10 years.

“Although we remained unaffected by the propaganda, which was intended to suggest that I had committed an illegality, I decided as a matter of principle, to resign as the president of the GCA. These are the facts. I leave it to the Guyanese public to judge those who sought to dwell on issues that were irrelevant to the promotion of cricket,” Chan-A-Sue alluded in a prepared statement.

The DCB president, who was flanked by vice-president Gopaul Singh, secretary Wycliffe McAllister, treasurer Johnny Sanasie, assistant secretary Jeff Singh and Public Relations Officer Raj Singh, said matters did not end there.

“We are now confronted by another no-confidence motion against the entire Executive of the Demerara Cricket Board. The motion, signed by Messrs S.K. Singh and Harold Dhanraj, alleges that we are not promoting the aims and objects of the Board and makes certain spurious allegations against the Board. This matter is now being given the active consideration of the Board. I assure you that whatever action we propose or decisions taken we will inform you,” Chan-A-Sue assured members of the media.

Chan-A-Sue further pointed out that the weapon of no-confidence motions is not the only one being deployed against the DCB. He pointed to the fact that a number of injunctions have been filed against two member associations affiliated to the DCB - the East Bank Cricket Association and the West Demerara Cricket Association.

“On the surface of things, the filing of these injunctions may appear unrelated to the tactic of the above mentioned no-confidence motions. You will understand the link between these two nefarious activities if you recognise that the no-confidence motion against the DCB can be imagined to succeed if the injunctions are successful. Incidentally, you should be aware that the individuals who have filed the no-confidence motion against the DCB are persons who are known to be hostile against the DCB,” Chan-A-Sue alleged.

Touching on the issue of acquiring grounds, Chan-A-Sue said the DBC is experiencing hindrances in its endeavour to administer cricket on the West Demerara and East Bank but the situation has been somewhat remedied on the former.

“Needles to say, this situation undermines the capacity of the DCB to reach out to young, aspiring cricketers who would like to be offered the possibility of playing for their county, native land and the West Indies.

“Another disturbing development has been the emergence of parallel groups administering non-DCB competitions in the East Bank and West Demerara areas … these parallel groups have been competing unfairly with the DCB in its devolved responsibilities of administering cricket in these two areas,” Chan-A-Sue charged.