What has APNU done?
May 18, 2014, By KNews, Filed Under Features/Columnists, Peeping Tom, Source
There is no problem with the administration of cricket in Guyana. What exist are problems between a rival faction and the Guyana Cricket Board. Those problems reached a head because that rival faction has powerful supporters within the government, some of whom are pursuing their private agendas.
The situation reached an impasse in 2012 when the government imposed an Interim Management Committee and thus forced the West Indies Cricket Board to withdraw certain fixtures from Guyana. Cricket fans were denied the opportunity to see international cricket. This was a harsh cut, because already Guyana has to compete with other Caribbean venues in order to host the limited number of matches available.
The Peeper was elated when Guyana secured the rights to host the Third Test between West Indies and New Zealand towards the end of June. The Peeper was looking forward to three exciting matches being hosted at the National Stadium at Providence in mid-July when Guyana was slated to play Trinidad and Tobago, St Lucia and Jamaica in the Twenty20 format.
Those matches are now seriously in doubt because of the passage of legislation in the National Assembly. The West Indies Cricket Board is not going to give recognition to that legislation or to any administrative body emerging from that legislation, unless it makes explicit provision for the recognition of the present Guyana Cricket Board, which from all information available it does not. As such, Guyana will go down the same road that it did in 2012 when it was denied international matches.
It is shocking to learn that APNU broke ranks with the AFC on this issue. APNU seems to have fallen prey to the wiles of the PPPC administration. They voted in support of the legislation for reasons that only they can explain.
The PPP apparently sold them on the idea that the legislation was needed to allow for the administrative body for local cricket to have a legal personality and thus be liable to sue and be sued. The PPP dangled in the National Assembly the court decision by the Chief Justice who had held that the Guyana Cricket Board had no legal personality.
APNU seems to have fallen for that excuse. It seems to have completely overlooked that the Court of Appeal had subsequently ruled on the issue of the legality of the Guyana Cricket Board and it was this latter ruling by the Court of Appeal that removed from the government any basis for the legislation which they passed this week. After that Court of Appeal ruling, the government was forced to defer the legislation.
Now that it has been resurrected, APNU gave the support that the government needed. It seems to have overlooked the fact that there will be dire implications, because the West Indies Cricket Board is not going to recognize any body emerging from this new law.
And when that body is imposed on local cricket, the West Indies Cricket Board will, as they have done in the past, withdraw international cricket from Guyana. This also has implications for the Caribbean Premier League.
What has APNU done? They have played right into the hands of the powerful economic oligarchy. That oligarchy has long wanted to gain control of Guyana’s cricket, because with that control they will have a strategic ally in order to make financial inroads into the lucrative Twenty20 cricket.
The PPPC is aligned to that oligarchy and stands to benefit should the oligarchy gain control of Guyana’s cricket. The PPPC will not have to worry about fund-raising. Cricket will pave the PPPC’s coffers with gold if the oligarchy gets it way.
Did APNU not see this all along? Does it really believe that the Cricket Bill which it gave its consent to is about promoting the best interests of cricket in Guyana? Did it not see the invisible hands that were behind the scenes calling the shots?
A new round of battle will now take place. And sadly it is the fans who will suffer and who will have to bid goodbye to seeing any international cricket this year.