The IMC is illegal. It should not be accepted

Jan 01, 2012 Letters

Dear Editor,
Writer’s note: I was typing this correspondence when I got a call that stated that the WI Cricket Board has rejected the IMC and the ICC will be issuing a statement. Below, my original analysis follows.
The response you get from diplomats from the ABC countries when you ask them about their attitudes to authoritarian behaviour of the Government of Guyana is “The Guyanese people have to be pro-active in denouncing the excesses of their own government, then we will see what we can do.” They are right. Why should we ask foreigners to help us and we refuse to come to our own assistance?
This is the story with the Government-imposed IMC in cricket. To date, the sports editors of the two independent dailies have not issued an opinion on the political takeover of cricket in this country. Those sports editors know that politics will not dare attempt such an action with football. FIFA will act within minutes in banning Guyana football from the international sporting community
Minister Frank Anthony’s position on why the Government moved in is pathetic, illegal and downright tyrannical. His manoeuvre is identical to people taking the law into their own hands. It is called vigilante justice. It is dangerous and threatens civilization. No decent citizen in the world should accept vigilante methods. This is what happened between 2002 -2005 in Guyana. Faced with a crescendo of criminal violence in Buxton, the Government solicited the strategic involvement of a criminal himself, Roger Khan. The consequences for the social fabric of the land were horrible to say the least
One simply has to examine Minister Anthony’s reason for his imposition of the IMC and you see the resemblance to vigilante justice. This country continues to be a caricature of a modern state in the international community. We have a director of sports who knows nothing about any form of sports, was never involved in any type of sports in his country. Now we have a medical doctor who had absolutely no knowledge of any type of sports before he assumed his present portfolio. For a Minister who heads the Sports portfolio, he is hardly known in this land among the young.
Earlier last year, Mark Benschop and I did a mini-poll in which we asked a small number of young people of Moses Nagamootoo and Frank Anthony which of the two they know more about. Not one youth we asked knew who Frank Anthony was. The PPP loves to criticize Forbes Burnham but that former President took a former great cricketer, Roy Fredericks, and made and gave him the sports portfolio in his Cabinet. Anthony’s performance in the arrangement of Carifesta was hopelessly incompetent. Some local participants are still to be paid including a husband and wife who run a small business
Anthony is quoted in the press as saying that he acted on the decision of the Chief Justice that the Guyana Cricket Board is not a legal entity and since there is a Government that has a Sports Ministry and “the Government must use its executive to sort out the problems with cricket in Guyana.” The Minister told the press he is acting on the mandate of the Chief Justice. There is no such thing as a mandate from the Chief Justice (ag). There was never a court matter in front of the Chief Judstice (ag) that resulted in a decision that involved the Sports Ministry.
The Chief Justice (ag) offered an opinion. Minister Anthony has unintellectually misunderstood what an opinion is. An opinion can never be a mandate. The courts have not given a mandate to Anthony to form an IMC. Anthony did that on his own.  It is illegal and autocratic. Let the cricket people sort out their problems. Let them go to the courts umpteen times. Let the police arrest criminals. Victims must not shoot them. It is illegal to do so. The Guyanese nation should reject this imposition by Anthony and Clive Lloyd. Lloyd in my estimation has damaged his standing very badly
Frederick Kissoon