FORMER President Donald Ramotar has expressed his disappointment at the prolonged delay in bringing the management of cricket at the local level to finality.
The cricket fiasco suffered another roadblock last Friday after a decision was made by Cricket Ombudsman, Attorney-at-Law Kamal Ramkarran, to put a hold on the long-awaited Guyana Cricket Board (GCB) elections.

The elections were scheduled for the Umana Yana, Kingston, but the Ombudsman decided against the electoral process, a clear violation of the Cricket Administration Act after he cited fairness in the wake of a number of contentious issues raised by the Essequibo Cricket Board (ECB).

“I am disappointed … a lot of effort to bring the management of cricket in a sound and acceptable footing was done during my tenure. I am really disappointed that we are still continuing to tag on and on. Our efforts continue to be frustrating, democratically and otherwise,” the former Head of State reckoned.

Ramotar, who served as President for one term, was the driving force in legalising the Cricket Administration Bill, which seeks to provide legal administrative guidelines for cricket locally.
The former President, who was the only incumbent to have won the presidency and not have majority representation in the nation’s Parliament, further reiterated that all the bill seeks to bring is transparency, accountability, and good governance to the administration of cricket in Guyana and to address the plethora of allegations of rigged and fraudulent elections, financial irregularities and lack of accountability in respect of cricket administration, inter alia, because of the absence of legal personification in its structure.

This Bill does not, in any way whatsoever, allow or permit, directly or indirectly, Government’s involvement in the administration of cricket in Guyana, save and except a singular instance, where the minister is ascribed a function when the Act comes into operation. After that initiating act, the minister’s role disappears”.
The Bill was assented to by Ramotar in May 2014, but was thereafter found so offensive by the GCB, who subsequently rejected the legislation and moved to the Court of Appeal to have the Act suspended in 2014 and in 2018.

However, through the (current) Attorney General, a motion was filed to have the Cricket Administration Act restored to its original condition. That motion was subsequently made possible and the Act was fully enforced last September.

The Cricket Ombudsman, having been appointed by Sport Minister Charles Ramson Jr, after consultation with Cricket West Indies (CWI)i, has two functions – to verify the Register of Clubs and perform the functions of Returning Officer for the first elections of the membership of the Guyana Cricket Board.

Meanwhile, Attorney Arudrunauth Gossai was surprised at the turn of events on Friday, stating that he and the Ombudsman had on Thursday successfully fought against an Interim Order to stop the Guyana Cricket Board elections.

“Now the law is clear; the minister sets a date for the first elections, which the minister did, and so in my mind anybody to change that election (date) must be the person who fixed it. And so in the absence of the minister directing the Ombudsman that the election is not to be held today, the Ombudsman was bound under the law to conduct the election,” Gossai reckoned.
The dignity which is missing for over a decade at the administrative level of cricket locally now seems never-ending.

The deeply contentious administrative struggle will continue with a group of dictators, who have abused the Court system just to maintain power. A legitimate GCB election has not been held since 2012.