Letter to the Sports Editor…Agreement with the formation of IMC

Jan 11, 2012 Sports

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Dear Editor,
I have been reading in our various daily newspapers with deep concern about the comments made by the several cricket enthusiasts on the decision made by the Government of Guyana to form an Interim Management Committee (IMC) to manage the affairs of the Guyana Cricket Board (GCB) for at least six months. Therefore, please see my reasons listed below for the agreement of this positive decision.
I would like to start from the last visit made lately in 2011 to Guyana by Mr Julian Hunte, the president of the West Indies Cricket Board (WICB).
1) When he (Mr Hunte) made that visit, he only had discussions mainly with the former president of Guyana, Mr Bharrat Jagdeo, the Hon Dr Frank Anthony, Minister of Culture, Youth and Sport and Mr Clive Lloyd, Chairman of the IMC.  He then left the country on the same day, shortly after the meeting was concluded.
We the members of both the cricketing public of Guyana and the rest of the Caribbean were left in the dark and we are still in the dark, up to the time of writing, on what transpired at that meeting.  This kind of behaviour that was displayed by him was totally disrespectful to all of the cricketers, both in Guyana and the rest of the Caribbean, and also the concerned stakeholders in the region.
There is a fundamental principle in management which says that whenever there is an internal dispute in the managing of the affairs of any organisation, an officer from within in the organisational structure, depending on the nature of the dispute, should be selected to investigate the dispute and on the completion of the investigation, a report must be submitted to the relevant authoritative officer for it to be further discussed and examined before any   recommendation or recommendations must be made for implementation.  The WICB has not learnt this principle as yet.
2)  That the elections held on the 10th July was unconstitutional and the West Indies Board should not have accepted the officers elected as the legal representatives of the Guyana Cricket Board. This ruling was made by Mr Ian Chang S.C, C.C.H. Hon, Chief Justice (ag) in Guyana’s High Court when he said that all parties before this court are legal nonentities and this is not the proper forum or avenue for any relief or redress involving the GCB or any of its members (BCB, DCB, or ECB).
3)  That since the court can give no recognition to the GCB as a legal body it cannot recognise the election of the office bearers within this association.
4)  That a ministry of sports exist and they are responsible for sports in general. This is an indication that the state has assumed executive responsibilities for the welfare, promotion and proper administration of sports in Guyana.  Therefore cricket which is the premier sport in Guyana and its system must not be allowed to operate unchecked and unsupervised and the government has the responsibility of ensuring that the operation of such a system does not threaten its public welfare.
5)  That it does appear that the operation of the system in cricket has reached the stage where the bitter rivalry between or among private unincorporated umbrella bodies now threatens the welfare of cricket as a national sport.
6) That since the judiciary as a arm of the state has no power to provide remedial action the remedy must of course be either in the exercise of the power of the legislative and/or the executive. In the present state of affairs, while a legislative structure for the administration of cricket is desirable, there may be immediate need for the minister responsible for sports to impose his executive will in the national interest until such time as parliament can provide a more permanent welfare structure. The minister can take immediate interim remedial action, while the legislative seeks to provide a permanent solution.  Of course it is not the function of the court to make decisions of policy, however the court is powerless to state in which branches of state the remedial power lies and the need for the exercise of such power.
7)  That the ICC made a ruling which stated that they will implement a review system for dismissals in one form of, International cricket matches, but India refused to accept the ruling. And I did not hear the West Indies Cricket Board made any protest in any form or the other, nor did the ICC stop India from playing in international cricket.
But the same West Indies Cricket Board wants to bully the Government of Guyana into accepting the ruling which the ICC made in relation to governments getting involved into the cricketing administration of the various boards in the world.
8)  In conclusion I must appeal to all cricketers, cricket enthusiasts and other stake holders that they must give their support to the IMC so that our cricket could develop in the future.
Ron Legall
Cricket statistician

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