New BCA boss soon

Some members of the Barbados Cricket Association (BCA) have decided to put some fire under the organisation to get a new president.

They now expect that a new leader to replace the late Sir Conrad Hunte will be in office by month-end, having taken the formal step of requisitioning an extraordinary general meeting to elect a new president.

The board met yesterday and it is believed that March 23 will be the date for the extraordinary general meeting.

A member who signed the requisition, dated February 21, said some people felt that the board should have long taken steps to elect a new boss.

Sir Conrad was in his second month of a two-year term when he died on December 3, 1999. Since then, first vice-president Stephen Alleyne has assumed the role of acting president.

'We are putting a little fire on the board to act,' a BCA member told the Daily Nation.

'A number of us feel that enough time has elapsed.'

He added that if the board had set a date the members would have been willing to withdraw their requisition.

'I frankly believe that with an international series around the corner, an organisation like this should have an official president,' he said.

'It's not a case of pushing anybody, but it is embarrassing to the whole association that we do not have a president.'

The requisition also asked for further arrangements to be made that might be necessary to fill the vacancy of any other office or membership of the board of management that might result from the election of the president.

A BCA source said the board had no choice but to act on the requisition.

'They cannot decide if to call a meeting or not. It is only a matter of setting a date,' he said.

According to the BCA rules, an extraordinary general meeting must he held whenever the board receives a written requisition for holding such a meeting signed by (i) 25 members of the association; or (ii) six members of the board.

The rules also state that no business may be transacted at an extraordinary general meeting except that set out in the requisition for that meeting.

'In other words, this will not be a meeting to waste time,' the source said. 'It will be a meeting simply to elect a new president and any other vacant positions that may occur.'