President Ramotar to sign ‘Cricket Bill’

Jul 01, 2014 Sports

But silver lining could be behind dark clouds for Guyana’s Cricket

By Sean Devers
His Excellency President Donald Ramotar told reporters during a Press conference on Saturday at State House that he will sign the ‘Guyana Cricket Administration Bill’, which was passed in the National Assembly on May 15, once it reaches his desk, and there seems to be a silver lining behind dark clouds that hovers ominously over Guyana’s cricket.

President Donald Ramotar

The Bill has not yet been accented into law by President Ramotar but Kaieteur Sport understands that the Guyanese Head-of-State will do so before the next sitting of Parliament on July 9.
A West Indies Cricket Board (WICB) delegation recently concluded a series of high level meetings with various stakeholders in Guyana. Those meetings took place on June 23 and 24.
The WICB delegation met with representatives of the Government of Guyana, A Partnership for National Unity (APNU) and the Alliance for Change (AFC) in separate meetings.
The WICB delegation included Vice President Emmanuel Nanthan, Director Anand Sanasie, Legal Officer Alanna Medford and WICB external counsel Walter Scott QC and Roysdale Forde.
The objective of the meetings was for the WICB to raise its concerns with the Guyana Cricket Administration Bill. Further the WICB delegation sought to discuss with the various parties the best way, in light of the issues created by the passage of the Bill, to take the matter forward so as not to unduly affect cricket in Guyana.
According to a source close to the Government, the Guyanese Leader, who reportedly has 21 days to sign the Bill, will do so and have it amended to reflect ‘some’ aspects of that which the WICB is not comfortable with.
”A lot of compromise was made by both sides and the WICB should be returning the Regional under-15 (under-19) to Guyana if some of their concerns are addressed. A Cricket Ombudsman would be appointed to verify the voting members of the Guyana Cricket Board and fresh elections held,” the source added.
The WICB reported that the tone and content of all the meetings were generally positive, with all parties recognising the reason for concern on the part of WICB and the need for certain areas of the Bill to be addressed. Over the course of the meetings, the parties for the most part agreed on the issues in the Bill which needed to be revised. Another central focus of the discussions was the best way to achieve a solution which would be in the interest of all parties. It was agreed that the WICB would prepare a Memorandum of Agreement which would be signed by the Government of Guyana, the WICB and the GCB. The MOA would identify those areas of the Bill which the parties agreed needed revision and set out the revisions to be made. The MOA would also prescribe a strict timeline to be followed for the implementation of the revisions.
The parties hope that this solution can be agreed and implemented within the next week. The source could not confirm if such an agreement was signed but was confident that an amicable solution would be reached.
The WICB thanked the Government, particularly the Minister of Sport Dr. Frank Anthony (who could not be reached for a comment) and Attorney General Anil Nandlall along with the opposition parties.
Sanasie, who is also the Secretary of the Guyana Cricket Board (GCB), declined to comment on the matter saying he attended the meeting as a WICB Director and it would be unethical for him to comment.
“WICB is positive that we are on a path that can help in the process and look forward to the next few weeks as we continue our negotiations with positive anticipation,” WICB’s Nanthan had said in a release shortly after the meeting in Guyana.
Both President Ramotar and WICB Dave Cameron were unavoidable absent from the meetings.
Apart from the three CPL matches set for Guyana this month, matches in the Regional First-Class tournament which is scheduled for November, should be played in Guyana.

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