Guyana Cricket Board’s executive committee illegal, High Court rules

The High Court on Wednesday (April 3, 2019) ruled that the executive committee of the Guyana Cricket Board (GCB) is illegal.

News Room understands that the current group of executives of the Board cannot hold themselves out to be office bearers or perform functions of the Board.

The matter was brought before High Court Judge, Justice Fidela Corbin, by Attorney Arudranauth Gossai on behalf of Secretary of the Berbice Cricket Board, Rabindranauth Saywack, who claimed that the GCB was operating in contravention of the Guyana Cricket Administration Act established in 2014.

A source close to the case told News Room on Wednesday evening: “With regards to the purported elections they (GCB) had in January 2018 and elected Fizul Bacchus as President and the current executive, the election was (deemed) unlawful and they (the executives) shouldn’t hold themselves out as members of the executive committee of the Guyana Cricket Board.”

The source added: “Under the Act, it is clear the first election has to be held by the Cricket Ombudsman.”

“There are currently no executive officers of the Guyana Cricket Board, and the present committee members should not hold themselves out as officers of the Guyana Cricket Board.”

On Wednesday, there was also a ruling on the appointment of Stephen Lewis by the GCB as the Cricket Ombudsman. According to the source, “In terms of the appointment of Stephen Lewis by the Guyana Cricket Board, it was (declared) null and void.”

Lewis was also recently appointed by Minister with responsibility for Sport, Dr. George Norton, as the Cricket Ombudsman.

Contacted on Wednesday evening, GCB Secretary Anand Sanasie said he was not aware of the ruling, and promised to give a more informed comment after he is furnished with the relevant court documents.

Wednesday’s ruling comes less than two weeks after Dave Cameron was voted out of office as President of Cricket West Indies, with Ricky Skerritt winning the elections 8-4. Prior to the elections, the GCB had publicly declared its allegiance to Cameron.

In an invited comment after the election, Sanasie said: “I always support; whoever is the chair has my support; whoever is the President of the West Indies cricket board has my support 100%”.

In an exclusive interview with News Room following his rise to the helm of West Indies cricket, Skerritt declared that “it won’t be business as usual on the Guyana issue.”

Skerritt was at the time responding to questions on the status of the GCB given elections have not been held in close to a decade, mainly as a result of a plethora of court matters.

The new CWI boss admitted that the “legal claims and the uncertainty about the legitimacy of the Guyana Board” only came to his attention during the campaign.

“I’ve been on the Cricket West Indies Board for some time, and it has never come up in a Board meeting, so clearly the previous dispensation was to be totally oblivious to any local problems in Guyana,” Skerritt claimed.