… Contentious issues raised by ECB force Ombudsman’s hand

By Rajiv Bisnauth

THE Cricket Ombudsman, Attorney-at-Law Kamal Ramkarran, is of the opinion that another short wait for the much-anticipated elections of the Guyana Cricket Board (GCB) will not cost any irreparable harm, but rather could see the possibility of bringing the three County boards together.
The elections of the Cricket Board were postponed yesterday in the wake of a number of contentious issues raised by the Essequibo Cricket Board (ECB) on Thursday evening to the Cricket Ombudsman.
“You have waited for a long time for elections and another short wait … not going to cost any irreparable harm in my opinion, but the short wait could possibly bring a sort of coming together of the three County boards,” he said.

Further, the Ombudsman believed that in the light of the acrimony that exists in the cricket administration at the moment, every complaint must be addressed in a fair and objective manner, so that when the elections are held, those elections will be without contention.
“I’ve written to the representatives of the Berbice, Demerara and Essequibo Cricket Boards; I believe on the issue of fairness, to be fair to the people who have raised contentions about the elections, about the process, that we should hold off on elections until such time as those complaints have been resolved, if not to the satisfaction of the people who are raising those complaints, at least objectively speaking, everybody will give their opinion, everything is clear and above board, and if elections are held there would be no contentions,” Ramkarran said.

The election, which was supposed to be held at Umana Yana, Kingston, Georgetown yesterday saw the presence of delegates from both Demerara and Berbice Cricket Boards – which constitutes a quorum under the Guyana Cricket Administration Act. Each board has nine delegates. It takes 15 delegates to constitute a quorum.
However, the ECB decided not to submit its list of delegates and through its lawyer, Attorney-at-Law C.V. Satram, wrote to the Cricket Ombudsman outlying a number of issues regarding the electoral process, one of which was the Ombudsman’s function of verifying registers.

“Two of the three cricket boards are ready and there is one which is not, and I would like to do everything which is possible to bring that one county board back into the fold so that everybody can be satisfied; so that everybody can participate in the elections of the GCB of which I am the Returning Officer,” the Ombudsman stressed.
He also noted, “I haven’t seen any register. I know that the DCB elections were held pertaining to Court Order, and I believe the same is so for the BCB. I do not believe the same was done for the ECB, so if one of the functions is to verify register and the ECB raised the issue of verifications of register and I could not in good conscience proceed with the elections in their absence in light of that allegation that there are issues to be resolved, I could not in good conscience proceed to hold an election.”
Meanwhile, president of the Demerara Cricket Board (DCB), Bissoondyal Singh, feels that proposed action by the Ombudsman will lead to more litigation and years of problems.

“Essequibo had a responsibility to submit their delegates and then challenge it. They failed to do so, neglected or refused and so it cannot be one’s desire to have some other process outside of the Cricket Administrative Act.
“The Act is clear what has to be done, and I cannot know a lawyer is coming here to shift the date, and it is outside of his jurisdiction…that is what we have – a problem,” Singh pointed out.
He further stressed: “Essequibo has not come; it’s not our problem; it’s not your problem furthermore. The ECB cannot play they do not comply and then come and asked for sympathy. We are dealing here with section 17 under the Cricket Administration Act and we must follow the law”.

Moments after the Ramkarran’s announcement, Attorney Arudranauth Gossai said the Cricket Ombudsman is bound under the law to conduct the elections.
“If the Essequibo Cricket Board doesn’t want to be part of the process, and the Ombudsman gives them some sort of avenue, that must be a legal avenue, because the Ombudsman was appointed under the law, so any function exercise must be according to the law … there is nothing in the law that empowers the Ombudsman to stop the elections. Once you had a quorum of fifteen members from two County boards, the election should have happened today (yesterday),” Gossai reckoned.
A legitimate GCB election has not been held since 2012.