After a period of almost two months the Guyana government said it is willing to return to having consultations with the West Indies Cricket Board (WICB) over its implementation of an Interim Management Committee.
The two sides have been trying to arrive at a consensus after the government replaced the Guyana Cricket Board (GCB) with the IMC.
The two sides had met at the CARICOM Secretariat at Liliendaal almost two months ago to hammer out an agreement on the way forward after the WICB had repeatedly insisted that it recognized the previous administration led by Ramsey Ali.
Ali and his executives have since resigned following searches of their homes and business by the police based on an injunction granted to Attorney General Anil Nandlall.
Following is the text of the letter.
January 27, 2012
HE Ambassador Irwin LaRocque
Secretary General of CARICOM
CARICOM Secretariat
Turkeyen
Georgetown.
Dear Secretary General,
I wish to refer to the draft Understanding document which sought to encapsulate the discussions held between the Government of Guyana and the West Indies Cricket Board at the meeting on January 10 and 11, 2012. As you are aware, Guyana indicated that it wished to engage in further internal
consultations before coming back to the table.
I am now writing to inform you that following those consultations, there are areas in the document which are still objectionable to the Government of Guyana.
These are outlined in bold as follows:
“The WICB does not support the dissolution of cricket boards by Governments and maintains that there must be respect for the independence of cricket administrations and therefore requires that the Guyana Cricket Board (GCB) continue to carry out certain activities in respect of its membership of the WICB and the International Cricket Council (ICC) regarding cricket in Guyana;”
“Accept the WICB’s request for the GCB to continue representing the interests of the WICB and to discharge the following extant responsibilities in Guyana –
a) Sanctioning of cricket pursuant to ICC Rules;
b) Selection, preparation and management of all cricket teams;
c) Organisation of international and regional cricket matches”
“The IMC shall ensure that the process of developing recommendations
shall include consultations with all stakeholders, and that in particular, the
WICB and the GCB shall be given sufficient opportunity to participate and approve recommendations.”
We remain disposed to further discussions on the language of the text with a view to finding an accommodation that would be suitable to both parties since we are anxious that our players are given the opportunity to represent their country. In addition, we would also like to work with the West Indies Cricket Board to facilitate the preparations and arrangements for hosting the matches.
It is my hope therefore that we can work to resolve this issue and I look forward to your continued role as mediator in this process which you so effectively carried out at the last meeting.
Yours sincerely
……………………………….
Dr. Frank Anthony, M.P.,
Minister
