By Rajiv Bisnauth

The draft copy of the new Guyana Cricket Board (GCB) constitution has been completed, according to Chairman of the government-established, Interim Management Committee (IMC) Clive Lloyd.

Lloyd told Guyana Times Sport on Saturday via telephone that each stakeholder will receive a copy of the draft constitution for perusal and debate with the IMC by the end of this week before it is made final.

Lloyd indicated that should each stakeholder agree on the one constitution, elections will be held by June and a new board will take over the affairs of cricket in Guyana while the IMC will step aside. The now dissolved GCB was, over the past two years, had been operating with two separate constitutions which had created dissention in the fragmented Board. Further, at last year’s controversial GCB Annual General Meeting (AGM) the Constitution, which was not registered under the Friendly Societies Act, was used by one faction of the GCB to hold elections, which saw only the Essequibo Board and one member of the Berbice Board voting.

The tabling of the new Constitution is aimed at facilitating the hosting of free and fair elections, while also allowing for the board to operate in a more transparent manner.

The IMC was established on December 23, 2011, for a period of six months “in keeping with the Honorable Chief Justice Ian Chang’s ruling on the 22nd August, 2011. Part of his findings explicitly states that: “It is a matter of common knowledge that there exists a Ministry responsible for Sport in general.

This indicates that the State has assumed responsibility for the welfare, promotion and proper administration of sports in Guyana and that, since in the present state of affairs, while a legislative structure for the administration of cricket is desirable, there may be the immediate need for the Minister responsible for sports to impose his executive will in the national interest until such time as Parliament can provide a more permanent welfare structure.”

During this period the measures of work includes: (i) the drafting of a new constitution, which will be presented to all county boards and other stakeholders for their deliberations and adoption; (ii) the drafting of legislation with the relevant stakeholders that would be tabled in parliament; (iii) the development and implementation of a cricket development program at the national and regional levels; (iv) the reconciliation of the fractions of the Demerara Board into one Demerara Board; (v) to conduct an immediate review on the status of all financial transactions by an independent auditor and (vi) other issues that the IMC may deem pertinent to the development of cricket in Guyana.