Anand Sanasie, a member of the Guyana Cricket Board (GCB) Executive that has been deemed illegal, null and void by the High Court last week says he is yet to see any supporting documents regarding the issue but will look into all legal avenues if that becomes the case.
Attorney-at-Law, Arudranauth Gossai acting on behalf of the Berbice Cricket Board and it’s secretary, Rabindranath Saywack told this newspaper that the High Court on Wednesday last ruled the GCB executives and the body’s appointment of Stephen Lewis as the Cricket Ombudsman as “illegal, null and void and to no effect.”
Speaking to Stabroek Sport, Sanasie said “up to now nothing on the ruling ain’t reach us and everybody running all over the place, but if I am to comment on the ruling it is based on what I have been hearing from the media and I think that Gossai is not being truthful in letting the people out there know that when he challenged the appointment of the Ombudsman, he challenged on the grounds that the Minister has to lay the appointment, so the Minister has done so.”
Stabroek Sport also checked to see if the proper documentations were filed only to be told that the decision has not yet been filed.
The Cricket West Indies Director also recalled that the lawyer is now quoted as saying he is going to challenge the Minister’s appointment of the Cricket Ombudsman.
The challenge in the court spoke to the 2018 elections of the GCB but Sanasie explained that “what we tried is that they keep saying we not calling elections but is not we suppose to call elections, is the Minister which he now did, so in the interim, nominations were done in October AGM preceding the elections as required by the constitution with one county nominating and the other seconding. But because a county has to nominate and second, the elections are pretty much over in most cases because it is only three counties.”
Sanasie added that first, all three County Boards needed to be sorted out and it was the job of the Cricket Ombudsman to deal with such issues.
“How can you have a Demerara elections if you are not sure if all the associations in Demerara had elections?
“The Ombudsman needs to verify those clubs exists, he needs to ensure those clubs have their elections and then you can have a Demerara Board elections. The Ombudsman’s duty is essential in confirming there are no phantom clubs and the area associated all had legitimate elections supervised by the Ombudsman as provided in the act,” Sanasie said.
When quizzed on the way forward, Sanasie suggested that he was advised by his lawyer to wait and see what is written in the ruling and then would know what steps are to be taken.
“If you are going to appeal because you have to appeal on what mistakes were made on the ruling and up to just now I called [Roysdale] Forde and asked if he get the ruling and he said no so I don’t know who serving it.
‘The position of the GCB is that we would adhere to any court order which we are yet to see, once it comes we will adhere to it and we would explore all options available to us to defend ourselves.”
According to Gossai it is only the executives who have been affected and not the administrative staff but Sanasie opined that it was practically impossible.
“If people are to look at it in practicality it is not possible for the staff to run the show, because running these things incur expenses, they require some decision making that is beyond regular staff so let’s say tomorrow morning expenses come up who paying them? Who is going to pay the staff sitting in the office? The sponsor of the Under-17 pulled out because of the publications so we agreed that this is bad name and they wanted nothing to do with that,” he said.
When asked about the immediate effects this has on cricket for Guyana, particularly the National male Under-15 team and female Under-19, Sanasie said “I really don’t know what is going to happen with the upcoming regional tournaments. We have done everything in our power in the past to try for the cricket to play, the people going to the court and want to shut down the cricket do not have that interest.”
He said a number of questions needed to be answered such as “where are clothes coming from and how are they travelling?”
He added: “I don’t want to commit myself to go and do anything because if CWI [Cricket West Indies] asking for a team, who selecting the team? Cricket West Indies can’t come in and take over our cricket we are ⅙ shareholders in West Indies Cricket.”
He added that the GCB “has always ensured that on the field of play everything is normal and the results on the field of play has shown.
