Parliament and the Cricket Board

We publish today a letter from an exultant reader, who is a frequent contributor to these columns, cheering the unanimity achieved in parliament on Thursday on doing something tangible about setting right the affairs of Sri Lanka Cricket (SLC). We need not labour the fact that all Lankans, be they cricket fans or not, have long been aware that SLC has been a corrupt institution awash with money for a very long time.

Despite sporadic efforts to set it right, including the appointment of numerous Interim Committees to run the body handled by officials elected by various clubs, some allegedly not involved in the game, very little has been achieved. This was eloquently displayed by the sorry performance of our national team now in India.

It was stridently proclaimed in parliament that “all 225″ must vote for the resolution moved by Opposition Leader Sajith Premadasa and seconded by Minister Nimal Siripala de Silva. The resolution was carried by acclamation and declared passed by the speaker. There was grumbling ex post facto that there was no division, something the speaker deemed unnecessary in view the stated support of all sides for the motion before the House. The resolution was titled ” Removal of corrupt officials, including the chairman of the Sri Lanka Cricket Board.” The mere fact that the House, in a rare show of unanimity, adopted the resolution does not mean that the corrupt officials of the Board, “including the chairman,” are going to vanish into thin air.

Sports Minister Roshan Ranasinghe who gazetted a new interim administration for SLC earlier last week, received warm plaudits from both sides of the House for what was generally considered his courageous action in taking on the Cricket Board which is believed to have many powerful backers . He used a rhetorical flourish, apparently aimed at President Ranil Wickremesinghe, the name of whose chief-of-staff, Sagala Ratnayake also figured in the debate, by declaring that choice was between “Betting Shammi and Roshan Ranasinghe.” We don’t know anything about the real or alleged betting antecedents of Mr. Shammi Silva now serving his third elected term as chief of SLC. As far as we recall, that did not appear to have figured in the full day debate in the legislature.

As the whole country is aware, the very day after the sports minister gazetted the new interim administration, SLC and it chairman obtained a writ order preventing the enforcement of the gazette appointing the interim committee to run the Cricket Board. This order is applicable for 14 days. By the time the court order was made on an action of which neither the sports minister nor his ministry were aware, World Cup winning captain, Arjuna Ranatunga, the new chairman of the interim body had visited SLC headquarters to assume control. He left no sooner the latest developments had been conveyed to him. There was no word of what Ranatunga did during his brief sojourn at SLC.

The parliamentary debate on which no less than about 30 MPs, including various ministers of sports who had served in past participated, elicited some very interesting information the public would have been aware of at the time the incidents occurred but would have long since forgotten. This included the fact that three families, the Ranatungas, the Sumathipalas and the Dharmadasas (of Nawaloka fame) have long wielded great influence over the affairs of Sri Lanka cricket.

Now Arjuna Ranatunga is back in the saddle – or will be if the court order already made is not reversed. But his choice has not been unanimously acclaimed. Though he is the World Cup winning captain, he is a scion of the Ranatunga political clan who has been in active politics. Mr. Upali Dharmadasa is also among the appointees.

The seven member interim body named by the minister includes two retired supreme court judges, a retired high court judge and two politically connected persons – Rakhitha Rajapakshe, a lawyer who is the justice minister’s son is one of them. The other, Hisham Jamaldeen, is a Colombo businessman whose father, AJM Muzammil has been the Mayor of Colombo, high commissioner to Malaysia, a member of the Western Provincial Council and governor of three provinces. Thus it will not be possible to claim that the new body names by the sports minister is apolitical.

The sports minister intervened when the JVP’s Vijitha Herath criticized Ranatunga’s appointment saying he had consulted leading cricketing personalities, including Sidath Wettimuni. The question that must arise, if the common perception that politics had done great harm to national cricket, why are politically connected people continuing to be appointed into reform bodies.

Thursday’s parliamentary debate saw an unusual attack by the sports minister on the President of the Appeal Court who issued the order staying the implementation of the minister’s gazette for 14 days. He not only named names but displayed pictures. The justice minister has regretted these allusions but they can’t be wished away. Opposition Whip, Lakshman Kiriella, also a lawyer, told the minister that he must intervene in the ongoing case. But the sports minister is on record saying the attorney general has been unhelpful.

What will happen when the case resumes remains to be seen. Parliamentary proceedings are absolutely privileged and no MP can be faulted for what he says in the legislature. The publication of such statements are also covered by privilege. In that context, will the particular judge who figured in the matter recuse himself from further participation? That remains an open question but a lot of serious matters must follow.