Sri Lanka - New cricket interim committee or elections
Updated - 21/11/2008 - DailyNews.
A furious Sports Minister Gamini Lokuge stated that the problems at Sri Lanka Cricket (SLC) has gone out of hand and claimed he felt there are only two ways to solve the issue – having a fresh election or appointing a fresh interim committee to take control of SLC.
"I have two tasks to deal with as the sports minister. One is to develop sports and the second is to fight with adversaries. What I want to concentrate on is developing sports. But now things have gone out of control. I have to take some measures quickly to keep things under control" said the Minister.
Asked whether it wouldn’t look as if he took action because of Ranatunga’s parliamentary speech on Wednesday, if he dissolved the interim committee immediately, the Minister said he would not hurry for action. "I would not act in a hurry. First Arjuna will have to answer a few queries on his actions. I will take necessary measures after that" said Lokuge.
He had called a meeting with the SLC interim committee yesterday, but interestingly interim committee chief Arjuna Rantunga who had travelled to India for his 18th overseas trip since assuming SLC chair in January this year was absent from the meeting.
"He is an official appointed by me. But he never informed me that he was going overseas. Even another official Guy de Alwis had gone for some overseas meetings without my approval. I am going to ask for explanation how things could happen this way" said the Minister.
Though Ranatunga has travelled overseas yesterday, earlier when de Alwis was sent for the World Cup meeting in India, SLC Media Manager informed "Daily Mirror" that Ranatunga could not attend the meeting due to a ban for government MPs to travel overseas during the budget.
"At the meeting we had without Ranatunga, I instructed the rest of the interim committee members not to approve finances for anything which has not been approved by them. For example, interim committee members told me that Guy de Alwis had gone on those two tours without the approval of the committee, so I asked them not to release money for his expenses. I gave them clear instructions not to endorse anything that happens without their consent" explained the Minister.
Asked whether the chairman did not have the power to work independently without the interim committee approval as suggested by past experience, the Minister said it could have been so under different circumstances.
"Mostly the Interim committee members agreed to decisions as they all had to work towards a common goal in a friendly and amicable environment. But the situation is different now, as the chairman has accused his fellow officials as corrupt and has tried to wash his hands off the issue. Now they can vote against issues that they don’t agree with. That is why there are so many officials in the interim committee. The chairman or anyone else won’t have their individual say" said the Minister.
Minister said that he is going to ask Ranatunga officially what action he had taken as SLC chairman on the matters he raised in the parliament. "He raised so many issues and submitted an audit report which he said contained exposure on several corrupt deals. I ask him what action he has taken on those findings as the SLC chief." said the Minister, adding that Ranatunga never informed him anything prior to presenting those things in parliament, though he was an official appointed by the Minister.
"He accused that his fellow officials were there when he was appointed. That is how things happen. For example when I was appointed Sports Minister all the officials were already serving in the ministry. I have to work with them, whether I like it or not. That is the reality. You can’t complain about that." Said the Minister.
"Arjuna and I don’t have anything personal against each other. What he actually wanted was to attack some former officials. But unfortunately I am in this seat now, and I have to face the accusations. But if I remain silent, it would look as if I have accepted those allegations. I am going to write a letter to Sri Lanka Cricket on these charges, and I will release it to the media to let the public know the actual position" concluded the Minister.
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