The Guyana Government yesterday stated that despite the protestations of the International Cricket Council (ICC) the Interim Management Committee (IMC) it set up late last year was going ahead with its work.
The ICC yesterday said it was concerned over the fact that the government had dissolved the Guyana Cricket Board (GCB) and had replaced it with the IMC.
“The ICC Board was concerned to learn of the developments in Guyana where the government has dissolved the Guyana Cricket Board (GCB) and replaced it with an Interim Management Committee (IMC),” a release from the ICC stated following its meeting in Dubai.
“In condemning this government intervention in the strongest possible terms, the ICC Board reaffirmed the principle of non-interference and that the only legitimate cricketing authority is that recognised by the West Indies Cricket Board,” it added.
But, at a press conference yesterday at the Ministry of Culture, Youth and Sport’s boardroom, Quamina Street, Minister Anthony re-iterated that the IMC will continue to function.
Yesterday’s briefing was chaired by Permanent Secretary within the Ministry of Culture, Youth and Sport Alfred King who stated that the briefing was to once and for all dispel all rumors in the media about the IMC’s role.
According to Dr. Anthony, the objectives of the IMC were to resolve all the wrongdoings within the cricket administration and to fix the game of cricket nationally.
“Since December, we have established an IMC to run cricket in this country. This was after the Court ruled that the GCB was a legal non entity. Therefore, we can’t leave this thing in a vacuum, cricket is much too important to our country…” he said.
Dr. Anthony said that a handful of persons were profiting from the current situation.
“So it seems that a handful of people, a very small handful of people are profiting from the current system as it exists and we cannot allow this to happen.
“We cannot allow a few people who are profiting from it right now to continue to benefit this way. It continues to affect the entire country’s cricket and the handful of people seem not to care about cricket, so the IMC will continue to do its work, we have set a timeframe and we will be working to that timeframe,” he declared.
No agreement with CARICOM, WICB
Replying to a recent claim by the WICB that the government had not responded to the draft agreement reached by the WICB and CARICOM, Dr Anthony said this was not so.
“There was never any agreement. We simply were in the process of discussion and on the second day, a draft paper was created. But that same day the WICB party was late for a flight and had to leave the country and we agreed to continue discussions on a later date,” he explained.
“I don’t know if the WICB did not see our reply but on January 27 I sent a letter out to the WICB and Secretary General Irwin LaRocque stating some objectionable parts of that draft that government had issue with….. So I’m confused as to how the WICB can say in their press release over the weekend that we have not responded,” he added.
Constitutional reform and forensic audit
The Minister said that one of the main items on the IMC’s agenda was resolving the issue of which one of the two constitutions of the GCB was really the correct one.
IMC Chairman Clive Lloyd, in giving an update on his work so far, stated that he currently has the constitutions of the England & Wales Cricket Board (ECB) and Cricket Australia (CA) and was using them as a guide in the process to have a singular GCB constitution.
He also said that he plans to have public meetings in all three counties where the general public can share their views on the process.
Lloyd also rejected recent assertions that the government was paying him an exorbitant sum for his work.
On the subject of the GCB’s finances, Dr Anthony said that there have been allegations leveled of financial impropriety within the level of the various boards, and added that the ministry cannot take such allegations lightly.
He informed the media that a forensic audit by an impartial firm, either locally or foreign to determine the validity of the accusations will be conducted.
The Minister also suggested that there should have been a more collaborative effort by both the WICB and the International Cricket Council (ICC) in order to have this current cricket crisis resolved.
WICB threat
Dr. Anthony said he noted that the WICB had threatened to remove international matches billed for Guyana and said that the government will not be threatened by the WICB in this regard.
“We want to solve local cricket problems, so don’t threaten us to say that you will remove matches. We are not going to be threatened and we will continue to do the work of the IMC; to fix the cricket; that is what we will do because we think it is in the general public’s interest to make sure that what is happening here, that we can fix it and no amount of threats, no amount of harassment or going to the Courts or whatever they are trying to do, will distract us from doing what we think is right and what we think is in the interest of Guyanese cricket,” Dr. Anthony argued.
