The Cricket Administration Bill was deferred for the third time during Thursday’s sitting of the National Assembly due to the absence of Minister of Culture, Youth and Sports Dr. Frank Anthony.
Prime Minister Samuel Hinds told the House that no one else on the government side was prepared to pilot the bill through its second reading.
The bill seeks to establish the Guyana Cricket Board (GCB) and county boards as corporate bodies and was tabled by government in December 2012 in a bid to end the impasse over the national game here. It provides constitutions for the GCB, the Demerara Cricket Board, the Berbice Cricket Board and the Essequibo Cricket Board. After several objections to the original draft, it was sent to a Special Select Committee and several amendments have been made to the bill including changes to provisions that the West Indies Cricket Board, the governing body for regional cricket, has objected to.
The WICB however has signaled its non-support of the amended Bill citing the impending dissolution of the GCB as one of the reasons.
In a letter last year to Clerk of the National Assembly Sherlock Isaacs, WICB President Whycliffe Cameron referred to a December 4, 2012 letter to Sports Minister Dr. Frank Anthony in which the WICB detailed its contributions to the proposed Bill, saying that the WICB is aware that a revised draft was tabled at the last sitting of Parliament and they had obtained a copy.
“While we note that progress has been made in attempting to curtail Government’s involvement in the administration of the game, we must point out that this lingering issue is critical and dissolution of the GCB and its membership cannot be supported by the WICB,” Cameron said.
The bill is on the Order Paper again for Thursday’s sitting of the National Assembly.
