Since the government announced its implementation of the Interim Management Committee (IMC) on December 23, 2011, over the past 42 days the IMC and the Guyana Cricket Board (GCB) have been at loggerheads.
Another chapter in this episode continued yesterday as GCB members, Cricket Operations Officer Robin Singh, second vice-president Faizul Bacchus and Raj Singh (from one faction of the DCB) at 3:15pm opened the door to their Regent Road office for the first time since the government locked it on December 28, 2011.
Representing the ministry as they removed the locks were Internal Auditor Clifford Patoir and Director of Security David Thomas.
The removal of the locks was done in compliance with Wednesday’s court order granted by Justice William Ramlal which stated that the Permanent Secretary (PS) of the Ministry of Culture, Youth and Sport, Alfred King, had 24 hours to remove the locks placed on the office of the GCB or else the GCB had the right to remove the locks.
However Stabroek Sport has learnt that while that was going on the government represented by attorney Stephen Fraser filed proceedings to have the order suspended. This motion was filed on behalf of Attorney General Anil Nandlall and IMC Chairman Clive Lloyd.
Up to last evening all the GCB executives were having a meeting at the office. The Minister of Culture, Youth and Sport, Dr. Frank Anthony had noted at a press conference on Wednesday that the reason the government had locked the doors was because it was worried that GCB executives would tamper with evidence with regards to allegations of financial impropriety.
While the board’s office was being opened yesterday the question was posed to the three GCB representatives as to whether they would be handing over documents to aid in the investigation. Raj Singh and Robin Singh speaking on behalf of the GCB categorically rejected this.
“We don’t recognize what the minister is doing or asking. As we stated in our public statement a month ago when the IMC was formed, the GCB rejects the IMC since we are the legally authorized body to run cricket in Guyana, according to the West Indies Cricket Board (WICB) by virtue of its parent body the International Cricket Council (ICC),” said Raj Singh.
Robin Singh went on to mention that over a year now the GCB had made an offer to the government stating that if they wanted they could put an auditor of their own in the GCB headquarters to monitor every cheque they write, but the government never responded to this.
Both GCB President Ramsey Ali and Permanent Secretary King were unavailable for comment as both were in meetings.
The impasse between the Government and the GCB dates back to the disputed GCB elections in July 2011.
Ali was elected president in those elections which saw a boycott by some of the board members, the Berbice Cricket Board, through its secretary Angela Haniff, took the GCB to court, claiming that the new administration was established in an unscrupulous manner.
In making a ruling on the case, Chief Justice Ian Chang noted that the GCB and its constituents – the Berbice, Demerara and Essequibo cricket boards – were unincorporated associations and that “the court is powerless to provide remedial action.”
The Chief Justice, however, said that “there may be immediate need for the minister responsible for sports to impose his executive will in the national interest.”
Afterwards the IMC headed by the legendary Lloyd was set up and tasked to draft a new constitution for the GCB that would go to all constituent boards and to review all the GCB’s financial transactions through an independent auditor.
The government intervention has been condemned by the WICB which said that the GCB is the sole authority for cricket in Guyana and the ICC has since reaffirmed their position against government intervention in sport but the Guyana government has charged that the ICC has not heard their side of the story as yet.
