Sidath welcomes move to change SLC constitution 

by Rex Clementine 

Sports Minister Roshan Ranasinghe has won many admirers in cricket circles for giving an undertaking to the court that he will initiate constitutional reforms to Sri Lanka Cricket and keeping to his word, he has appointed a ten member committee headed by Supreme Court judge K. T. Chitrasiri. The committee will work with the ICC and come up with a new constitution for SLC that has come under fire for having too many voting clubs at the AGM.

Respected former cricketer Sidath Wettimuny, who was one of the 12 petitioners who went before the court highlighting flaws in cricket administration welcomed the move by the Minister of Sports.

“Hats off to the current Sports Minister for realizing that this is such a crucial matter and agreeing to bring in reforms. We have come so close to changing the constitution, but in the 11th hour those efforts were crushed . Like in 2015 when former Supreme Court Judge Prasanna Jayawardene had come up with a new constitution. The ICC had given the green light. We had the blessings of the then Prime Minister but still couldn’t push it through,” noted Wettimuny, who headed the cricket board in 2015 and worked towards the change of constitution.

When the Yahapalanaya government came into power in 2015, efforts had been taken to bring in constitutional reforms to SLC with the full backing of then Sports Minister Naveen Dissanayake. But with President Maithripala Sirisena taking over the Sports Ministry to the SLFP, constitutional reforms were stalled and elections were called.

“Ideally we would like to see a Board which is less politically driven with less votes. A system which is free of corruption and has more transparency and accountability,” Wettimuny added.

“We’ve had so many issues over the years. I have been in eight Interim  Committees and they were put in place because there were problems,” stressed Wettimuny.

The current voting system that is in place doesn’t allow some of the best qualified men and women to get elected at SLC AGMs. For example, Kumar Sangakkara created history by becoming the first non British MCC President. But if he contests SLC elections, he may not only lose but his own beloved NCC will stop entirely supporting him. NCC infamously split their vote at the 1996 AGM that saw the ouster of Ana Punchihewa as SLC President.

Neighbours SSC aren’t a paragon of virtue either. The club that named a gate after former captain Arjuna Ranatunga months later at the SLC AGM refused to vote for him. There was a storm of protest within the club and at next SSC AGM, members turned up in numbers to ouster the Executive Committee.

“We need to have a constitution that attracts top, quality, independent and respected individuals. I’m really happy we have a Minister who is happy to look at the constitution. Now we have to hope the gentlemen  in the committee will come up with a good proposal,” added Wettimuny.  Roshan Ranasinghe may not be a popular man among his political colleagues but his popularity among Sri Lankan cricket fans around the world is soaring.