Cricket Administration Act restored

The Court of Appeal on Tuesday morning ruled that the Cricket Administration Act be restored to its original condition, paving the way for elections at the Demerara Cricket Board and subsequently the Guyana Cricket Board.

Minister of Sport Charles Ramson Jr., in a statement after the ruling, said: “The Court of Appeal just ruled that the Order that was originally made by the single judge in Chambers to suspend the major parts of the Cricket Administration Act, that Order was discharged, which means that the Cricket Administration Bill and Act is now fully enforced once again. It also means that the original (Guyana Cricket) Board which was there, prior to the Cricket Administration Act, they were the ones that the Court had ordered in the interim can act as the Guyana Cricket Board. That Order has now been set aside, so that situation no longer exists.”

“The next step for us is that we’re going to have the Demerara Cricket Board elections and then shortly thereafter the Guyana Cricket Board elections.”

In his presentation to the National Assembly last Thursday, Ramson Jr. had touched briefly on the cricket stalemate in Guyana, and what would be the administration’s approach to help resolve the impasse.

The issue has been engaging the Parliament and the courts of Guyana for more than a decade now, and Ramson Jr., speaking during the budget debates, said steps would be taken to address the matter.

“A regular situation has occurred where in 2014 the Cricket Bill was passed with the support of both sides of the House- the APNU had supported the PPP. Lo and behold, there was a challenge to that Cricket Bill. A few years after that challenge, at the Court of Appeal, the Minister who has responsibility for Culture, Youth and Sport went to the Court of Appeal, along with Attorney General and consented to the provision being suspended in that Act,” Ramson Jr. had said.

“Through the (current) Attorney General, a motion has been filed and we will be having the Cricket Administration Act be restored to its original condition where it will be fully enforced in a matter of days.”

That mission was completed on Tuesday morning.

It is understood, the Guyana Cricket Board and its affiliates were not present in Chambers to challenge the petition made by the Attorney General.

The Cricket Administration Act was passed in Parliament on May 15, 2014. The Act outlines several stipulations for the staging of elections of the Guyana Cricket Board (GCB).

Based on the Act, the first elections of the GCB by law should be called by the Minister of Sport in consultation with the West Indies Cricket Board, now Cricket West Indies.

The GCB subsequently rejected the legislation and moved to the Court of Appeal to have the Act suspended in 2014 and in 2018.