Dear Editor,
On every occasion Minister Anthony opens his mouth to speak about his IMC, he mentions that he is acting on a ruling of the Chief Justice. That is not true. The lawyers of this country and the opposition parties have remained silent on this. Now Roger Luncheon has repeated the misrepresentation of Dr Anthony.
The Chief Justice (ag) made no ruling that involved the Ministry of Sport and the Guyana Cricket Board. In giving his decision on an injunction sought by a cricket official against the Guyana Cricket Board, the Chief Justice said the following: “…there may (may, emphasis on the word ‘may‘) be the need for the Minister responsible for sports to impose his executive will…”
What the Chief Justice said was not a legal edict that by law has to be carried out. It was his opinion on what should be done given the turmoil cricket administration was going through. Minister Anthony has acted on the opinion of the Chief Justice. That opinion is not gospel, it is merely an opinion. Some lawyer should tell Drs Anthony and Luncheon that.
I am contending that nothing said by the Chief Justice compels the Ministry of Sport to padlock the offices of the Guyana Cricket Board. Minister Anthony should quote the specific law under which he acted when he did this. The opposition parties should not tolerate this post-election authoritarianism.
The opposition parties are going to get a rude awakening. Their incompetence over this issue, the treason accused and other national exigencies are going to cost them their political lives. The President is going to call a snap election two years down the road and the PPP is going to win a parliamentary majority. It is simply amazing that the AFC and APNU have top class lawyers working for them yet they have not rejected the nonsense about the Chief Justice making a ruling which compelled the Ministry of Sport to implement an IMC.
For the umpteenth time, I repeat that there is no ruling, no judgment, no legal edict from any branch of the Guyana judiciary that compelled the Ministry of Sport to suspend the functionalism of the Guyana Cricket Board. Minister Anthony acted on an opinion of the Chief Justice. I am not a judge. I am not trained in law. I am a schooled social scientist capable of understanding the laws of my country and capable of interpreting what comes out of the mouths of people be it judge, doctor or president of a country. I close with the unambiguous statement that there has been no ruling by the courts in Guyana that ordered the Ministry of Sport to suspend the existence of the Guyana Cricket Board.
Yours faithfully,
Frederick Kissoon
