Dr Thakur’s statement must be condemned in the strongest terms

Dear Sir, The entire cricketing public should out rightly condemn the alleged statement of Dr. Rishi Thakur to the Special Select Committee on the Guyana Cricket at Parliament Building on Monday. Member of Parliament and Presidential Adviser Odinga Lumumba should be congratulated for his forthright stand on Dr. Thakur’s statement that Parliament should condemn and withdraw the statement. Dr. Thakur’s statement that 70% of the Berbice Cricket Board’s Management was drawn from the African community is not only untrue by libelous. The eight elected Executives of Berbice Cricket Board consist of five Indo-Guyanese (Anil Beharry, Angela Haniff, Raymond Haniff, Romash Munna and Shabeer Baksh, two Mix-Guyanese (Keith Foster and Hubern Evans) and one Afro-Guyanese (Julian Cambridge). The five appointed executives consist of three Indo-Guyanese are Shameer Khan, Dennis D’Andrade and Mohamed Azim making it eight out of thirteen executives of the Berbice Cricket Board. The 1st Vice President, Secretary, Treasurer, Asst Secretary and Asst Treasurer positions are all held by Indo-Guyanese. Additionally the chairman of the Berbice Cricket Board Junior and Senior Selection Committees are both Indo-Guyanese (Leslie Solomon and Dhieranidranauth Somwaru) while the Special Events Committee headed by Hilbert Foster consists of seven Indo-Guyanese out of a total of ten. Seven of the ten members of the Junior and Senior Selection Committees are Indo-Guyanese. Comrade Editor, Dr. Thakur should issue a public apology to the hard working executives of the Berbice Cricket Board who has transformed Berbice Cricket to its highest state ever. The Berbice Cricket Board since January 2012 to present has completed a record breaking 190 programmes/activities while sponsorships have been obtained for 25 cricket tournaments at all age levels. Over 500 activities/programmes have been completed since 2008. Dr. Thakur also alleged to have stated that the 70% of Africans composition of Berbice Cricket Board was responsible for the under development of Berbice Cricket. One is left to wonder if Berbice Cricket is under developed what can be said of Demerara and Essequibo and even the rest of the Caribbean. I would like to challenge Dr. Thakur to find one Cricket Board in the Caribbean that can match the Berbice Cricket Board track record over the last decade. At the same time can Dr. Thakur inform Berbicians of his contributions to Berbice and Guyana cricket in his entire lifetime? Please Dr. Thakur can you inform us of why you backed away when a recommendation was made by the Berbice Cricket Board for you to head a committee to raise funds to construct a new office for Berbice Cricket. The remarkable progress that is taking place in Berbice Cricket is the result of a dedicated bunch of cricket lovers whose only mission is to develop the game we all love so dearly. We see ourselves as Berbicians and Guyanese and do not view each other through the texture of our hair nor the colour of our skin. I wonder if the Guyana Cricket Board would still keep the goodly doctor on their Cricket Development Committee after his alleged statements. All Guyanese must condemn the alleged statements. Angela Haniff