Dear Editor,
I pen this letter as an appellant in this matter. More than six months have elapsed since the Caribbean Court of Justice made certain orders regarding the matter Rajendra Singh & Robin Singh v The Attorney General of Guyana. This matter was challenging the Government of Guyana’s (GOG) authority and decision to unilaterally disband the Guyana Cricket Board (GCB) and install an Interim Management Committee (IMC). Hereunder is a brief summary of the various approaches to the courts and the surrounding events over the past year:
The attorneys for the appellants have duly complied with the orders of the CCJ and have since filed all the necessary applications and affidavits, including settling the records of appeal, in support of same since June 15, 2012. Numerous written follow-ups as outlined above and attached herein for your perusal have been made with the Guyana Court of Appeal and the Chancellor’s office, yet still this matter has not been heard nor has a date even been set for such an important hearing of this appeal. We strongly urge the Court of Appeal to set an urgent date for this hearing. We view this as a severe breach of natural justice as justice delayed can surely, in this case, be equated to justice denied.
In the meantime, the GOG is rapidly moving ahead to ram through some form of legislation to control cricket administration in Guyana, clearly attempting to bypass the court, whilst cricket and cricket administration is bleeding from these multiple and relentless onslaughts against a legal body and its officers that has been in existence for decades. I wish to place on record that there have been several accusations of financial impropriety made against the GCB and its officers, confiscation of the physical assets of the GCB, lockout from its offices, harassment and searches of officers’ residences and trustees of this board, investigation by the GPF for which not a single criminal charge has yet been instituted.
The independent Rupert Foster report which was commissioned by the Minister of Labour has clearly vindicated the GCB even though it unearthed a few minor irregularities, not unusual in any organisation.
This government-commissioned report has never been made public by this Minister or the Offices of the Friendly Societies. One can only assume that the report was not to the liking of the powers that be. Indeed, it really is a tremendous tribute to the tenacity and fortitude of these distinguished officers that cricket is still being played in Guyana and national teams are still being sent to represent Guyana at the Regional WICB tournaments. Should legislation be passed allowing cricket administration to be government controlled, Guyana risks being ostracized from being a shareholder of the WICB since the ICC holds a similar view to FIFA regarding government intervention in sports. This is clearly not the road that we need to pursue.
Yours faithfully,
Raj Singh
Appellant
