Sports Minister's attempt to refine Sri Lanka Cricket

Minister of Sports Navin Dissanayake has halted the scheduled annual general meeting and election of office bearers to Sri Lanka Cricket (SLC) by appointing an Interim Committee to run the administration of the country's richest national sports association (NSA).

Appointing an interim administration in place of an elected Executive Committee of a NSA is generally does not sound well, although the Sports Minister is empowered to do so under the National Sports Law. But the Sports Minister was compelled to do so as he had observered several fishy deals at the SLC.

Minister Dissanayake has done so with good intension - to refine the country's cricket administration and make a through investigation on corruption allegations against a few senior SLC officials. None could say investigating on corruption and other wrongdoing at SLC is bad. The SLC Interim Committee, headed by former Sri Lanka opening batsman Sidath Wettimuny, has been appointed to facilitate the investigation and to get the best support towards that.

Earlier, the postponed SLC election was to be held before the end of this month. But had those officials, against whom corruption allegations are being levelled, been appointed once again, that would have hindered the investigation. Hence, the Sports Minister has appointed an Interim Committee to the SLC with a purpose.

Minister Dissanayake, the eldest son of former Sri Lanka cricket chief the late Minister Gamini Dissanayake, has a special interest to and responsibility put the game here on the right track. There have been many allegations against the previous SLC Ex-Co and the SLC had millions in debts after constructing stadia when Sri Lanka hosted the World Cup a couple of years ago.

The Minister had opted for an interim administration at the SLC so that there "is no system corruption" within the country's national governing body for cricket. The finances that come to SLC coffers are the hard-earned money of our national cricketers. These funds should be carefully used on the welfare of the players as well as the development of the game. Hence, the Minister has done the right move by exercising his powers under the National Sports Law, those who had robbed that hard-earned money of our cricketers would be exposed and severely punished.

Minister Dissanayake wants the funds our cricketers generate to SLC be used properly in a transparent manner. As the Minister has emphasised, we have to protect our cricketers. It is no secret that veteran cricketers such as Mahela Jayawardene and Kumar Sangakkara had several problems with the previous SLC administration. The time is now opportune for cricket to be put on the right track. There should be no room for politicians and individuals at the SLC, but only for those who genuinely love the game and want to towards the betterment of cricket without any undue advantages.

Those who have been appointed to the SLC Interim Committee - Wettimuny and his eight members, have a great responsibility to fulfill the minister's aspirations and rectify the past mistakes. As the minister has pointed out, there should not be any personal agendas in to the new committee, no secret deals with anybody to introduce transparency and the provisions for television broadcast rights and also devise a plan for ICC funds of USD 16 million.

The Minister wants to clear all these and was in the belief that an election was going to help that process but only complicate it. That had prompted the Sports Minister to go for an intention administration for SLC until these problems are sorted out.

Improving the structure of the game and changing the voting system in the SLC Constitution are the two main tasks the Interim Committee will have to achieve before the Sports Minister decides to have fresh elections for the SLC. We earnestly hope that Sidath and his team would be able to bring those changes soon so that anybody who takes over after that will have to adhere to it. It should be a transparent process, leaving no room for corruption.

Although the intension of appointing an interim administration was sincere, no international sports governing body would tolerate politicians medaling with internal affairs of a sport governing body by overthrowing elected members. There is no exception in the International Cricket Council (ICC) which has warned in no uncertain terms that Sri Lanka is perilously close to being suspended from its ICC membership.

Reacting swiftly to Minister Dissanayake's move, Chief Executive of the ICC David Richardson has sent a stern warning that detailed the repercussions Sri Lanka will have to face, if politicians start interfering with the autonomy of SLC. In an e-Mail message, Richardson says that a full and proper investigation should be carried out, but any unjustified interference might expose Sri Lanka Cricket to the possibility of having its membership suspended by the ICC. That would have considerably damaging consequences, including the loss of the right for Sri Lanka Cricket to participate in ICC's global events.

But the Sports Minister is ready to present his case and justify his decision to appoint an Interim Committee before the ICC Board. "I know that ICC is not happy with interim committees, but we will explain the circumstances that led us to take this decision," Minister Dissanayake was quoted as saying. He feels that the ICC Chief Executive has been fed with wrong information by interested parties.

As the Sports Minister has pointed out, the reasons to appoint an Interim Committee are two-fold - the Attorney General's opinion that no person who has served four or more years in office of a NSA could contest any one of the top seven posts in a national sports governing body as well as the report of a fact-finding committee on cricket which had disclosed various financial irregularities pertaining to television rights and other deals.

Nevertheless, democracy should be restored at the SLC at the earliest possible date.

The Interim Committee should fulfill its task soon and pave way for a democratically elected Ex-Co to take over because the SLC belongs to its member clubs and associations.