SPORTS
Joel Bailey
AZIM Bassarath plans to seek re-election as president of the Trinidad and Tobago Cricket Board (TTCB) when the local governing body holds its next election on October 30.
The election date was set on Saturday when the TTCB adopted its new constitution.
Bassarath said Monday, during a telephone interview, “I would seek re-election.”
Bassarath, who replaced former TT and West Indies wicketkeeper Deryck Murray as TTCB president in November 2009, said nominations for the board’s executive will close on October 15.
Former TT and West Indies U-15 captain Zaheer Ali, in a letter to the TTCB membership on Saturday, called for more restrictions on board presidents and officers.
Bassarath said, “This cannot happen. We live in a small country and the population is too small to accommodate it.”
Regarding Ali’s point that the election commission should be confirmed a month before the elections, with the approval of the board, Bassarath emphasized: “The election committee was approved by the entire board on Saturday. They are not connected in any way to the cricket board, they are independent persons.”
The election commission will consist of five members, headed by lawyer Ronald Simon.
Regarding the new constitution, the president of the TTCB has confirmed: “Forty-one people voted in favor of the new constitution, no one voted against and there was one abstention.”
Bassarath asserted, “From various quarters, people have been demanding term limits. The Cricket Board never had term limits. Since that was the trend, we went with it.
“However, there was a clause in the constitution and there were some arguments whether we should go four years or (stay) three years. This particular clause went to the board for (a) vote. I think it was voted 36 in favor and six against, so it was unanimously approved.”
When contacted, former TT and West Indies leg-spinners Dinanath Ramnarine and Samuel Badree, as well as former TTCB chief executive Baldath Mahabir, declined to comment as they were yet to see the changes made to the TTCB constitution. .
