SPEAKER of the National Assembly Raphael Trotman, Attorney General Anil Nandlall and Minister of Culture, Youth and Sport, Dr Frank Anthony have been served writs of summons by the Guyana Cricket Board (GCB) to attend court in relation to the correctness of the National Assembly considering the Cricket Administration Bill.

The Speaker disclosed the action of the GCB during the sitting of Parliament yesterday.
He said that he received the summons yesterday morning and he felt he needed time to go through the document and to seek legal assistance before pronouncing comprehensively on it.
In light of the summons and the contents not being properly scrutinised, the House which was supposed to consider the Bill yesterday deferred consideration to a later date.
Speaker Trotman said it was his firm opinion that the court has no authority to prevent the National Assembly from debating the Bill and passing the law.
He stressed: “The court cannot place a bar on this House and its ability to proceed with this Bill.”
The Cricket Administration Bill was tabled by government in December 2011 in a bid to end an impasse over the national game.
It provides constitutions for the Guyana Cricket Board (GCB), the Demerara Cricket Board (DCB), Berbice Cricket Board (BCB) and the Essequibo Cricket Board (ECB) and is divided into five parts with one schedule giving respective boards the powers to effectively manage the affairs of local cricket.
Minister Anthony had reported that the Bill had been subjected to exhaustive discussions at the level of a Special Select Committee of Parliament.
That Select Committee, as previously reported, comprised four members from A Partnership for National Unity (APNU), one member from the Alliance For Change (AFC) and four members from the ruling People’s Progressive Party/Civic (PPP/C).

The members of the Select committee as previously reported were Christopher Jones, Joseph Harmon, Basil Williams and Dr Rupert Roopnarine of APNU; Khemraj Ramjattan of the AFC; and Dr Anthony, Odinga Lumumba, Attorney General, Anil Nandlall and Neil Kumar for the Government.

(By Clifford Stanley)