The people of this bankrupt country, who have done everything they possibly could within the democratic realm to usher in a new political culture but have hopelessly failed due to the powers that be, whom they helped to install in office last year, acting deaf and blind to their demands, finally began to see light at the end of the tunnel last week in the most unlikeliest of circumstances.
It is indeed intriguing that the initial trigger for the long chain of events that ultimately culminated in the country’s ferociously-divided Parliament acting in unison for the first time in recent memory was in fact the cricket fields in neighbouring India, where the ICC World Cup is now reaching its final stages.
Cricket and controversy have never been too far apart in this cricket-crazy nation or for that matter in neighbouring India. The International Cricket Council or ICC, which in recent times has earned the moniker ‘Indian Cricket Council,’ appears to have shot itself in the foot by acting at lightning speed to suspend Sri Lanka’s membership in the council following the historic and unanimous parliamentary resolution to oust the current Sri Lanka Cricket (SLC) administration.
The ICC has long being known as a toothless tiger that could not say boo to a goose, especially of an Indian kind, but all of a sudden, within 24 hours of Sri Lanka’s parliamentary resolution based on a report of the country’s Auditor General highlighting unmitigated corruption, the council decided to take the side of the accused. In doing so, it has carelessly gone against Sri Lanka’s Parliament. This affront to the nation’s sovereignty, without even the basic minimum of an investigation into the matter or adherence to the principle of natural justice in hearing both sides out, reeks of ulterior motives.
The ICC will do well to understand the basic principle that SLC is ultimately answerable to the people of Sri Lanka and operates under the Sports Law of the country. Therefore it is the prerogative of the Minister of Sports of this country to act in the best interest of the sport. If the Minister is made aware of corruption at SLC by the Auditor General, the Minister is obliged to act. It will be recalled that SLC has been administered by various interim committees in the past based on this principle. Therefore serious questions need to be raised as to what right a mere cricket council has to question an act of parliament of a sovereign nation.
Furthermore, as opposed to the ICC’s stance citing Government interference in SLC, it appears that it is the ICC that is interfering in the internal affairs of a sovereign state. This is vindicated by public sentiment on social media, that it is better to be suspended for the right reason than play the type of cricket that has brought disrepute to the nation under a corrupt management.
Adding fuel to the fire, it seems like the current cricket administrators may have had a hand in the ICC suspension according to a report published by ESPNcricinfo on Friday (10). If that indeed is the case, not only is it an unforgivable act of treachery but also grounds for their immediate removal. It is clear that these administrators appear to have shot themselves in the foot with the cricket-loving public taking to social media to rally behind the Sports Minister post suspension rather than against him, which may have been the intended objective of the suspension. The end result is that the ICC too is now being dumped in the same corrupt basket as its suspended member.
Be that as it may, it will be the President who will come out as the biggest casualty of this imbroglio with his authority over the state of affairs in general and the SLPP members in particular seriously eroded. As far as local politics go, the decision of the Sports Minister to publicly refuse to comply with the presidential direction to withdraw his appointment of an interim committee remains unprecedented and may well be a precursor to others defying presidential diktat.
It was not long ago, 4 August to be precise, that President Ranil Wickremesinghe stated that he would only listen to Parliament on matters of governance. Being a president elected by Parliament and not the people, it was the right thing to say. Now the cricket imbroglio has put him in a spot and it will be interesting to see whether he walks the talk and follows through on the parliamentary decree.
The President himself, post-resolution, stated that the only solution to end corruption at SLC was to introduce a new constitution that has already been drafted by a retired judge. Therefore the ICC suspension has played right into the hands of those calling for a clean-up as it now paves the way to pause action on the field, which no one is going to miss anyway given the recent performances, and instead focus on the game’s management, which many attribute as the reason for the poor performance.
On the larger canvas, the ICC’s arbitrary action in finding fault with the decision of a sovereign parliament will in fact open up a global debate on its role in the game. After all, no cricket board or council can be bigger than the nations playing the game and given the ICC’s own politicisation, which is no longer a secret, it will be just a matter of time before like-minded cricketing nations now being bullied by the ICC create a body of their own, ultimately leading to an unwarranted split in the cricketing world.
Since 1973, when the Sports Law was enacted in this country, no team can compete or travel overseas without the written approval of the Sports Minister. Whether the ICC likes it or not, that is the country’s law, which it has not had a problem with thus far. On the other hand, the ICC’s double standards have been exposed for all to see. Take Afghanistan, where it is the Taliban that appoints the Cricket Board and is directly involved in its operation, even going to the extent of openly defying the ICC on women’s cricket. Yet that entity has had no issue with the Afghans. Then what about the Government-appointed interim committees currently running cricket in South Africa and Pakistan? Again, not a hum from the ICC.
Moving on, the people’s demand for system change finally appears to be materialising not due to any effort by those holding political office, but more due to some divine intervention given the people’s continuous incantation for such intervention.
First it was a court ruling reaffirming a political party’s decision to sack one of its errant MPs for violating party diktat. That singular action caused tremors among habitual jumpers. In fact, just last week, emboldened by the earlier court ruling, another political party sacked an MP accused of smuggling gold and mobile phones into the country. The trend is likely to continue.
The second significant change that augurs well for better governance is for a minister to go against the tide and expose corruption. The third such development is unification of a fractured Parliament towards the common good and reaffirmation of parliamentary authority and supremacy. The fourth is the direct defiance of Executive diktat in favour of the greater good. In the process a line appears to have been crossed in challenging presidential authority, paving the way for more democratic decision-making.
The fifth development is exposure of corrupt elements embedded within the legal framework, most notably the politicisation of the Attorney General’s Department, that has led to the Sports Minister openly condemning the department and retaining his own private counsel. These are all landmark events that will strengthen and support the people’s demand for change and accountability.
Therefore the audacity of SLC’s current office bearers to stay put even after a unanimous parliamentary resolution seeking their ouster has no doubt raised the public’s ire, more so after the ICC’s premature involvement. As per the country’s Constitution, a Cabinet minister facing a no-confidence motion has to vacate the post if 113 MPs vote in favour. Likewise, if 150 MPs vote to impeach a president, he or she too has to go. But in this instance over 200 MPs have sought to replace the current office bearers, but they appear determined not to budge. Where will it lead to?