In the case of cricket, not even the intervention of the government, through its Minister of Sport, seems to be able to solve the myriad of problems affecting the discipline.
As it stands, the latest development in cricket is that the Interim Management Committee (IMC) set up by the minister following the ruling of Chief Justice Ian Chang, seems to have completed its work which was, among other things, the drafting of a new constitution to replace the two allegedly used by the previous administration.
Chang, in his ruling, had pointed out that the State has responsibility for the welfare, promotion and proper administration of sports in Guyana adding that a legislative structure for the administration of cricket was needed since the GCB was a legal non entity which could not be sued for any malpractice.
With the constitution completed following consultation with a number of stakeholders, all that is left is for the constitution to be passed in parliament paving the way for new election of office bearers.
It will be interesting to see whether the new constitution will be passed especially since the combined opposition (which has the majority in parliament) was not too keen on the government being involved in the first place citing the autonomy of sports association/federations.
Even if the constitution is passed the way forward is not altogether too clear cut. What of the Demerara Cricket Board saga which is still in the Court? And what will happen if the West Indies Cricket Board (WICB), which itself has followed the direction of its parent body the International Cricket Council (ICC) and frowned on the Guyana government’s involvement, does not accept the new body?
The administration of football too is beset by similar problems.
The ruling body, the Guyana Football Federation (GFF) has been taken to Court by its affiliate, the Georgetown Football Association (GFA) over the non-issuance of voting rights which effectively prevented a representative from the GFA from contesting the post of president at the last annual general meeting of the GFF which was subsequently prevented from being held by a Court injunction.
Since then, the GFF has found itself unable to preside properly over the sport as a large number of the city clubs have rallied behind the GFA. The GFF has found itself to be somewhat of a toothless poodle, unable to enforce its position on a number of issues.
Matters have not been helped by the fact that the Upper Demerara Football Sub Association has also declared that it too, has had its voting rights withdrawn by the GFF leaving the Berbice and Bartica sub associations as the only two active sub-associations under the GFF’s umbrella.
The GFF is currently being led by vice-president Franklin Wilson who became acting president of the GFF after longstanding president Colin Klass and General Secretary Noel Adonis found themselves embroiled in the cash-for-votes scandal which toppled former FIFA vice-president and president of CONCACAF and CFU Austin `Jack’ Warner.
Wilson has already indicated that FIFA has been brought up to speed with the Guyana development.
One person who seems willing to try and solve the imbroglio though, is Alpha United president Odinga Lumumba who, on Saturday, told media operatives that he would be starting a petition for there to be some movement on the complicated and confused mess facing the administration of football.
And the mountain of problems facing the GFF administration just keeps on getting bigger with the news that four members of Guyana’s Golden Jaguars football team, including top striker Gregory `Jackie Chan’ Richardson, have opted to pull out of Guyana’s CFU Cup clash in Grenada beginning Wednesday over the issue of the stipend being paid.
One can recall a similar thing happening in Trinidad a few years ago when the entire Golden Jaguars team waylaid Klass as he was about to leave a hotel in Trinidad following the team’s participation in the same CFU end of year competition and demanded payment.
What is clear from the administration of these two associations is that some form of intervention is necessary to straighten out the many problems affecting their development.
While international sports federations like FIFA and the ICC are reluctant to have government involved, those international federations must understand that it is the government’s right to ensure that the administration of sport in a country which it governs, is just and right.
In fact, all the principles of democracy, transparency, fairness, equality and justice, which are applicable to other areas of governance, must also apply to sport.
While the international federations have a stake in how the sport is run in the many countries affiliated to them, they must also understand that the government, and its people, have a much bigger stake, a much more vested interest, in ensuring that under its national sports policy, the administration and promotion of sport must be above board. In short persons must not use their positions as head of sports organizations to advance their personal interests which is what is happening a lot in Guyana.
The obvious solution then for bring an end to the long running saga involving the GCB and the GFF is there to be a symbiotic relationship between the government and the international sports federations/associations in addressing the issues affecting the GCB and the GFF.
Therefore, it is incumbent on the Minister of Sport to write FIFA and the ICC and suggest that the two work together in cleaning up the mess that the administrators of cricket and football have found themselves in and to bring an end to the constitutional and other matters affecting those sports disciplines.
