GUYANA SHOULD BE BANNED FROM ALL REGIONAL CRICKET

Jan 06, 2012 Features / Columnists, Peeping Tom

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If there is any complicity or involvement by the Guyana government in the padlocking of the offices of the Guyana Cricket Board of Control GCB), then this is perhaps the most ominous development in the country’s recent history, and signals that the forces within the administration that are both pursuing old and private agendas have crossed the boundaries of legality.
There can be no lawful basis for the padlocking of the offices of the GCB without a court order. And this action is all the more disturbing considering that these offices are on private property and therefore the act of padlocking them without the consent of either the landlords or the occupiers represents a clear case of trespass and unlawful restraint.
If the government of Guyana is in any way involved in this action of padlocking the offices of the Guyana Cricket Board (GCB) then all pretence that the Interim Management Committee has been formed to assist in the management of cricket should be dropped, since what we would have had is a glaring attempt to disband the lawful representative of cricket in Guyana and foist a politically appointed body on the administration of cricket.
Considering that very few, if any at all, of the sporting associations in this country are incorporated, then it means that if this action by the government goes unprotected and unchallenged, the same thing can happen in other sports. In fact, the football fraternity is divided and there have been ongoing feuds between factions for a number of years. This has also involved challenges to the courts. There has also been a major scandal involving top officials of football and two of them have been suspended by the governing body for football, FIFA.
There is therefore a greater need to bring order to football than to cricket. If anything can be said about cricket, it is one of the best organized sports in Guyana and the Cricket Board has always been competently run and does not need government sponsorship or bailout.
The citizens of this country have been complaining for years about the state and management of the city of Georgetown. Yet the government has not seen it fit to replace the existing Council with an IMC. But it is now moving to involve itself in the affairs of a voluntary association, something it has no businesses in.
What is happening within the cricket fraternity is a power struggle, and through its actions, the government is opening itself to criticism that it is taking sides and also pursuing private agendas.
A possible major conflict of interest has also reared its head and this could be extremely damaging for the government of Guyana when the facts are internationalized, as they are bound to be. There was a similar case in Trinidad and Tobago many years ago when a member of the then government was accused of influencing the government in certain direction based on private interest.
There are, no doubt, divisions within cricket. But every association has its own internal rifts. But it should be recalled that in spite of the problems with the Demerara Cricket Board, problems that can be easily resolved in due course without official meddling, the Guyana Cricket Board was able to successfully host the Pakistanis on their tour to Caribbean and also successfully host the regional fifty overs competition. So this so-called crisis in cricket has not hampered the sport in Guyana and it is nothing short of political meddling and the pursuit of old agendas that are taking place at present.
This meddling must be protested and challenged.  I urge all those persons who have been appointed to the Interim Management Committee to withdraw themselves from that body. They will find themselves embroiled in a major controversy and their considered reputations sullied as a result of their involvement in this IMC.
Today it is cricket and tomorrow it will be lawn tennis. It is well known that there is paranoia within the administration about who controls which sporting organizations. A few years ago, after the government was so worried about the Table Tennis Association because of the involvement of a then opposition advocate, they found a way to ensure that he did not go too far with table tennis.
It is well-known, also, that a close associate of the government is a central figure in football and after some problems last year even threatened to organize his own tournament. And it is well-known that the government made an attempt to take over one of the cricket clubs in Guyana, causing a former West Indian cricket great to bemoan this take-over bid.
The lawn tennis association is at present headed by Christopher Ram and it is well known that he was not very much liked by the old administration. So, an excuse can be very well found to nudge him out or to use the same excuse as in the case of cricket to foist an IMC. It was long suspected that individuals within the PPP have ambitions to be involved at the highest level in regional cricket.
Already the decision of the government to impose an IMC on cricket has led to Guyana signaling that it will be unable to field a team for this year’s tournament.
The West Indies Cricket Board should now formalize this withdrawal and extend it by banning Guyana from all regional cricket until this obnoxious IMC is removed and those behind it forced to resign their public offices. This is unfortunate but it is the only choice left open to the WICB.
And when the time comes to blame anyone for what has taken place, the cricket-loving people of Guyana must blame the government and not the Guyana Cricket Board.

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