Raphael heads newly elected DCB executive
-injunction fails to stop elections
By Clyde Pestano
Stabroek News
November 29, 2003
Claude Raphael was yesterday elected unopposed as the new president of the Demerara Cricket Board (DCB) at the Malteenoes Sports Club (MSC) headquarters when the DCB court-ordered elections were held.
The elections were postponed on several occasions due to court challenges for several months, leading eventually to the citing of former President Paul Chan-A-Sue and Secretary Wycliffe McAllister for contempt of court.
Also elected yesterday were Shabir Hussain and Jerry Permaul as Vice Presidents; Ian John, Secretary; Sase Narine Singh, Treasurer, Assistant Secretary, Judisther Rampersaud; Assistant Treasurer, Pretipaul Jaigobin; Colin Europe Chairman of the Competitions Committee; Public Relations Officer Robert Adonis and Marketing Manager Kirk Douglas. Two Trustees were also elected with Edward Richmond and Alfred Mohammed securing those positions. Bisheshwar & Co. were elected as the Board's Auditors.
All the officers elected were the only nominees and as such were elected unopposed. Returning Officer for the elections was Professor Aubrey Bishop, while the Presiding Officer was Bishwa Panday, Secretary of the Guyana Cricket Board (GCB).
After the elections, Professor Bishop offered his congratulations to those elected and wished them well. The Presiding Officer Panday also offered his congratulations to the new executive on behalf of the GCB. According to him, a lot of work lies ahead which the new body will have to tackle almost immediately. He profusely thanked Professor Bishop for the time and energy he put into the process leading up to the elections.
New president Raphael was of the view that the Professor's involvement in the whole process was `divine', since he handled the issues in a knowledgeable, articulate and fair manner. He added that the board can now take things further with the elections out of the way and concentrate on the development of the game.
In an invited comment Professor Bishop told Stabroek Sport that the elections were properly constituted since according to the DCB constitution, 50% was the required quorum. He added that the 10 delegates from the GCA and 13 from the ECCB were duly elected since the required quorum was attained.
The Professor was asked what sanctions if any would be applied to the two absent area boards (East and West Bank Demerara) and said that that issue would have to be dealt with by the Chief Justice Carl Singh.
Stabroek Sport also learnt that an injunction was sought by Gopaul Singh and Anand Sanasie to stop the elections but these were refused by the court, thus allowing the elections to go ahead.