Dear Editors,
I have been reading in our daily newspapers with deep concern the comments made by several cricket enthusiasts about the decision of the Government of Guyana to form an Interim Management Committee (IMC) to manage the affairs of the Guyana Cricket Board (GCB) for at least six months.
My reasons for agreeing with the government’s decision follow:
1) When Mr Hunte, President of the WICB made his visit here, he only had discussions with the former President of Guyana, Mr Bharrat Jagdeo, Minister of Sport Frank Anthony and Chairman of the IMC Clive Lloyd. He then left the country on the same day, shortly after the meeting was concluded. The cricketing public in Guyana and the rest of the Caribbean were left in the dark, and we are still in the dark up to the time of writing, about what transpired at that meeting. This was totally disrespectful to all the cricketers in Guyana and the Caribbean, and also to the concerned stakeholders in the region. There is a fundamental principle in management which says that whenever there is an internal dispute in the management of the affairs of an organisation, an officer from within the organisational structure, depending on the nature of the dispute, should be selected to investigate the dispute and on the completion of the investigation, a report should be submitted to the relevant officer for it to be further discussed and examined before any recommendations are made. The WICB has not learnt this principle as yet.
2) The elections held on July 10 were unconstitutional and the WICB should not have accepted the officers elected as the legal representatives of the GCB. Chief Justice (ag) Ian Chang in his ruling said that all parties were legal nonentities and the court was not the proper forum for any relief or redress involving the GCB or any of its members. Since the court can give no recognition to the GCB as a legal body, it cannot recognise the election of the office bearers within this association.
3) A Ministry of Sport exists which is responsible for sports in general. This is an indication that the state has assumed executive responsibilities for the welfare, promotion and proper administration of sports in Guyana. Therefore cricket which is the premier sport in Guyana and its system must not be allowed to operate unsupervised, and the government has the responsibility of ensuring that the operation of such a system does not threaten its welfare.
4) It does appear that the operation of the system in cricket has reached the stage where the bitter rivalry between private unincorporated umbrella bodies now threatens the welfare of cricket as a national sport.
Since the judiciary as an arm of the state has no power to provide remedial action the remedy must of course be either in the exercise of the power of the legislature and/or the executive in the present state of affairs. While a legal structure for the administration of cricket is desirable, there may be immediate need for the Minister responsible for sports to impose his executive will in the national interest until such time as Parliament can provide a more permanent structure. The minister can take immediate interim remedial action while the legislature seeks to provide a permanent solution.
5) The ICC made a ruling which stated that they will implement a review system for dismissals in international cricket matches, but India refused to accept the ruling. And I did not hear the WICB make any protest, nor did the ICC stop India from playing in international cricket, but the WICB wants to bully the Government of Guyana into accepting the ruling which the ICC made in relation to governments getting involved in the administration of the various cricketing boards in the world.
In conclusion, I must appeal to all cricketers, cricket enthusiasts and other stake holders to give their support to the IMC so that our cricket could develop in the future.
Yours faithfully,
Ron Legall
