USACA elections back on
Bobby Refaie, the USACA's secretary, announced that the 2005 election process is to be resumed with immediate effect, with an extended deadline to March 7
Deb K Das
17-Feb-2005
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In an open letter to US cricketers, USACA officers and the International Cricket Council, Bobby Refaie, the USACA's secretary, has announced that the 2005 election process is to be resumed with immediate effect, with an extended deadline to March 7.
The major change is that the list of nominees approved by Selwyn Caesar, the association's treasurer, and Gladstone Dainty, the president, will not be used for the election. Instead, Refaie's list will be the one that the independent auditor will use. This represents a victory for Refaie, who had stopped the election process claiming that the Caesar/Dainty list was unfair, undemocratic and arbitrary, and undermined the spirit and intent of the USACA constitution. Refaie apparently obtained the support of a majority of USACA league presidents for his stance, and was able to use his constitutional authority to enforce his point of view.
The response from Dainty was an unsurprising one. He is reported to have called a conference-call meeting of the USACA Board, with Refaie's expulsion as USACA secretary at the top of the agenda. The effort is said to have failed by a narrow margin, as one regional director pleaded to give Refaie "another chance".
Meanwhile the ICC, which has maintained a complete silence on the matter since its original e-mail to Dainty, has remained publicly tight-lipped.
The full text of Mr Refaie's announcement is presented below.
After careful consideration and in consultation with Majority of the league presidents across the United States, I have decided to restart the election process with immediate effect. The ballots shall include the names of the three individuals left out by Mr Caesar for not sending the payments on time. As I have stated before, the process of background checks was flawed and therefore, it is only fair that we do not penalize persons that have shown good intent by sending the forms in time.
As per the USACA constitution (Article 5.3) the previous directors were elected to a two-year term and as such their term ended in January of 2005 . Further, the Board of Directors of USACA are also nominees in this current election and therefore cannot make decisions that may be considered prejudicial to the process.
I also want to state that I have consulted with attorneys in this matter and they have advised me that as per the powers vested upon me by the USACA constitution as the election officer, I have an obligation to insure that this process is conducted in a fair and impartial manner without any interference from interested parties. Therefore, I have chosen to continue with the election process as stated previously and because of the delay in the process so far, I have extended the final date for receipt of completed ballots until the close of business day on March 7, 2005.
I hope that this will be the final chapter in this unfortunate saga of the USACA elections.
Sincerely, Bobby Refaie, Secretary, USACA