Dear Editor,
Mr. Claude Raphael writing in yesterday’s Sunday Stabroek `Government should be supported in its proposal re GCB’ as `Former Chairman Snr. Selec-tion (cricket) Panel’ has written in support of President Jagdeo’s intervention in the on-going saga of cricket maladministration in Guyana. In so doing Mr. Raphael makes a number of sweeping statements including pronouncements attributed to Chief Justice (ag.) Ian Chang in a decision the latter handed down in the internecine Cricket Board dispute which came before him.
The status of unincorporated entities is far from the straightforward “non-entity” that Mr. Raphael says the Chief Justice deemed them, let alone being illegal, which is far from the case. In this coming Sunday’s Business Page I will review the court’s decision but for now I think it useful that we dispel the myth or fear created by Mr. Raphael’s letter that all those unincorporated entities which have been operating and doing excellent work in Guyana are somehow illegal.
Whilst there are certain juridical limitations imposed on unincorporated entities, once the directors or the management committee members, by whatever name called, are operating within the constitution or by-laws of their organization and the general laws of the country such as noise nuisance, taxation etc., there is nothing illegal about them. They need not fear the police coming after them, or being sued in a civil matter. Let me make a brief comparison: minors also have similar juridical incapacities but illegal they surely are not.
Finally, I wonder the extent to which Mr. Raphael may have been a directly interested party in the court matter and even more pointedly whether the cricket club(s) to which he belongs, or entities on which he would have served in a senior capacity for many years, were “illegal” unincorporated entities.
Yours faithfully,
Christopher Ram
