Sheikh Ahmad Quits As ECB President

President of the embattled Essequibo Cricket Board (ECB), Sheikh Ahmad relinquished his position on the Board with immediate effect on Thursday.

Ahmad informed this publication that he submitted his resignation letter yesterday to the ECB’s secretary Otto Christiani. However, when Christiani was contacted he was unaware of the submission of the resignation letter. The under-fire Ahmad claimed that his decision to demit office was based on certain board members not honoring their commitments and were not in support of his judgment.

Ahmad and certain board members were at loggerheads ever since the ECB had endorsed the government-implemented IMC and more so when the ECB denounced its membership and withdrew its two directors from the DEB Essential Organisation Incorporated which was created last year by some executives of the now dissolved Guyana Cricket Board (GCB).

“I cannot continue to lead a board where as president I make commitments on behalf of the board and these commitments are not being honored, it meant that the members no longer support my judgment and leadership so I have no choice but to demit office,” Ahmad stated.

Ahmad continued “I noticed ever since the ECB came on board with the IMC, certain members of ECB were acting in a double standard way. They tell you one thing and do another, they tell you they will support the IMC and on the other hand they fail to attend meetings or cooperate with the ECB”.

Just recently, the ECB had suspended Vice-president Faizul Bacchus indefinitely because of “his abuse of office.” This publication also learnt that the Board Treasurer had resigned a few months back following allegations of improper financial practices.

On the other hand, this publication understands that the board will meet sometime today for an Ordinary General Meeting (OGM), where a new board president will be appointed.

Meanwhile, Ahmad’s decision creates another quandary as it relates to Guyana’s current cricket crisis. Presently the new Guyana Cricket Board (GCB) constitution has been completed and election is expected sometime next month, but that process is dependent now on the ECB.

It will be interesting to see if the new ECB president will endorse the IMC.

Prior to this new development, many were of the view that the ECB was also responsible for this current cricket crisis when they voted at last July’s controversial GCB elections.