President Ramotar should think carefully before signing Cricket Bill

May 22, 2014 Sports

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The Bill becoming Law could have serious repercussions for Cricket in Guyana

By Sean Devers
President of Guyana Donald Ramotar should think carefully before affixing his signature to the Guyana Cricket Bill which was passed in the National Assemble last week, making the piece of legislation Law.
Legal minds have informed Kaieteur Sports that there is no specific time frame for the President to sign the Bill to make it Law, adding that he is not mandated to sign the piece of legislation if he has doubts about its contents.

One of the provisions in the Bill stated that the “rules, regulations, bylaws and constitutions of the former Guyana Cricket Board are replaced by the (IMC) Constitution of a new entity also called the Guyana Cricket Board” and further that “each and every office established under the rules, regulations, bylaws and constitutions of the former Guyana Cricket Board shall cease to exist at the commencement of this Act.”
It further states that ‘every office established under the constitution, rules, regulations and by laws of a former county Board shall continue to exist on and after the commencement of this act, subject to the right of a County Board to make amendments thereto as may be necessary’.
However, the new constitution gives Demerara an extra vote from Linden which begs the question ‘If Essequibo and Berbice are allowed to keep their present constitution, why is the Demerara Constitution different from the one passed by its membership?
This provision was at the crux of the cricket impasse as the WICB says it will not recognise any dissolution of the GCB.
If this contentious Bill becomes Law the WICB will surely not contravene the Law of a Sovereign Nation but could remove all WICB controlled cricket from Guyana and ban its players from all levels of West Indies teams.
The Test Match, scheduled for June 26 at Providence and the 24-day Regional under-19 tournament slated for Guyana in August could also be in Jeopardy.
It is also understood that the present GCB and the Guyana Government have already submitted a bid during next year’s tour to the West Indies by England for matches to be played in Guyana. This could generate Millions of tourism dollars which will be of tremendous benefit to Guyana’s economy. All of this could be lost if the Bill is made Law.
The WICB and the ICC disagree with government intervention in cricket and would not be involved if a minister of Government, even by an act of parliament, takes control of one of its members.
The Sports Minister will have limited power in that he is only authorized to create the position of a Cricket Ombudsman, who will be tasked with the responsibility of verifying and registering clubs; he or she will have ample time to verify legitimacy of clubs. But well placed sources opined that Dr. Anthony, like any good Politician, would install someone who is loyal to him which could ultimately mean that he will ‘run things’ without being directly involved.
“In fact the WICB made submissions to the committee, none of which was taken into account,” claimed a WICB source.
Another contentious issue in the Bill is the ‘Transfer of Rights’ which states that all assets and rights of an existing entity be seized and place it in the hands of another without compensation.
It was also noted that the GCB President can never be a WICB Director since the Bill mandates that the GCB President and the Vice-President (Cricket Development) or Chairman of the Senior Selection Panel be Guyana’s representatives to the WICB. However since 2012 the WICB has mandated that none of its directors can represent their territorial boards.
The Guyana Cricket Board (GCB) was founded in 1943, taking over control of cricket in all Guyana from the Georgetown Cricket Club. This followed the formation of the Berbice Cricket Board in 1939.
Before 1943, cricket was run by the BCB in Berbice and the Essequibo Cricket Committee in Essequibo. Berbice had 2 votes in the GCB – the same number as a Georgetown first division club. In 1969 the Berbice votes were increased to 3 when the rules were changed so that the BCB Chairman of Selectors would automatically be one of the five National Selectors.
In 1971 the rules changed again and Berbice gained 3 more votes, bringing its tally to 5. The Essequibo Cricket Committee became the Essequibo Cricket Board (ECB), with 4 votes in the GCB. Each Georgetown first division club still had 2, for a total of 16 votes. In 1972 it was agreed that the presidents of the BCB and ECB would automatically hold the posts of 1st and 2nd Vice-Presidents in the GCB. This automatically increased the Berbice votes to 6 and Essequibo votes to 5.
This is not the first time Guyana’s cricket has attracted political intervention but this is the first time that a Bill aiming to control the sport has been passed in Guyana.
In 1973 several Georgetown clubs wrote then Minister of Youth, Culture and Sports Shirley Field-Ridley, expressing dissatisfaction with the administration of GCB President Frederick Rampersaud. A commission of inquiry was convened, hearings held throughout Guyana, followed by new elections, which led to Rampersaud being replaced by Berkeley Gaskin.
In 1992 the GCB handed over control of cricket in Demerara to the newly-formed Demerara Cricket Board (DCB).
This dispute among cricket Board executives began in early January 2011 when two factions of the DCB were elected at two separate elections.
The DCB Bisoondyal Singh faction and the DCB Raj Singh faction were both installed but the current GCB has since recognized the Raj Singh faction after receiving a report from a special committee mandated to investigate and recommend which faction should be recognized. A Legal opinion was also presented by committee member Andrew Pollard of the Law firm Hughes, Fields and Stoby.
A Cricket Administration bill was tabled following a dispute between the Government of Guyana, its Interim Management Committee (IMC) and the Guyana Cricket Board (GCB) over the state of cricket in Guyana.
The GCB elections on January 27, 2013, at which Dru Bahadur replaced Ramsay Ali, who resigned as President, only sparked more controversy.
The Cricket Bill sought to establish the GCB and county boards as corporate bodies and was tabled by the Guyana Government in December 2012 in a bid to end the Cricket impasse that began when Chetram Singh demitted Office in 2012.
President of the West Indies Cricket Board (WICB) Jamaican Dave Cameron endorsed the current GCB as the Administrators of cricket in Guyana and slammed the Cricket Administration Bill which was recently passed in Parliament.
In a letter on October 24, 2013 sent to Sherlock Isaacs, Clerk of the National Assembly the WICB expressed non-support of the document.
While expressing the need to see the game being managed in a proper way, the WICB clearly stated that they cannot support the dissolution of the existing GCB. They also expressed concern over aspects of the new constitution drafted during the process.
The WICB, while not wanting to dictate constitutional reform of any of its members, will want any changes in the running of any member organisation be done in the proper and democratic way as stated in the laws of the WICB and its parent body the International Cricket Council (ICC), who is against government involvement and dictates in the sport.
In the name of Sport Minister, Dr Frank Anthony, the Bill tabled in Parliament seeks to remedy this by establishing the boards as bodies corporate and conserves their status and operations.
The Bill was the subject of much discussion by critical stakeholders within the cricketing fraternity, and was reviewed by a Special Select Committee of the National Assembly of Guyana.
The members of the Select Committee are Christopher Jones, Joseph Harmon, Basil Williams, and Dr Rupert Roopnarine of APNU, Kemraj Ramjattan of the AFC, while Odinga Lumumba, Attorney General Anil Nandlall, Sport Minister Dr Frank Anthony and Neil Kumar represented the government.
The Guyana Court of Appeal unanimously upheld the appeal filed by the Guyana Cricket Board (GCB) and instructed the initial Trial Judge, Acting Chief Justice Ian Chang S.C., to issue the order nisi sought by the Cricket Board to quash the decision of the Minister of Sport, Dr Frank Anthony to disband the GCB.
In its decision, the Court of Appeal, which was read by Acting Chancellor Carl A. Singh CCH, the Court also made short thrift of another decision of the Acting Chief Justice Ian Chang SC in Haniff v Ali, which was to the effect that the GCB was a legal non-entity and could not bring legal proceedings.
The Court of Appeal agreed with Sanjeev Datadin acting for the GCB that the GCB was a private entity which received no Government funding to carry out its objectives. The Court of Appeal further ruled that the GCB could lawfully institute the proceedings which were before the Court and entitled to be heard.
However, It is important to note that this Bill, in its present form; (a) disbands the existing Guyana Cricket Board- This was done by the Minister of Sport Frank Anthony and was challenged in the court. The CCJ and the local Court of Appeal pronounced on this matter and a hearing and decision is still pending in the High Court. (b) Awards all of the GCB assets to a new entity- A matter was filed in the court by the AG Anil Nandalall claiming the assets of the GCB on a principle of Bona Vacantia. This is under challenge in the court. (c) Inserts the government IMC Constitution on the GCB, even though it was refused by its membership.
This Bill, if made Law, overrules all the outstanding court proceedings and awards the government all the relief it is seeking through the courts.
Those Guyanese who earn a living from Cricket and the thousands who eagerly look forward to seeing Regional and International Cricket here will be the ones to suffer if cricket is removed from Guyana or a ban is imposed on its players. This could also result in both the PPP and APNU losing votes at the next National elections.

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