Even though, newly appointed Sports Minister Harin Fernando intention is noble, Just four months before the World Cup, idea of appointing an interim committee looks not so good.
Harin Fernando is not just a Sports Minister. He is a Sports Minister, who comes from the UNP! The head of UNP is Prime Minister Ranil Wickramsinghe, who opposes former Sri Lanka Cricket Board (SLC) president Thilanga Sumathipala. Since last three years, SLFP MP’s were Sports Ministers, so they were supportive towards Sumathipala. Reason is quite simple, SLFP head and country’s President Maithripala Sirisena used to support Sumathipala.
Harin Fernando’s motive is noble : to keep destroyers like Sumathipala out of the Maitland place. However, his choice for an interim committee, particularly at this point, is not that much good.
Harin said “I prefers an interim committee, so it can clean up the current mess up”.
In reality, it’s not going to happen! The sad truth is that, who ever comes in interim committee, Will not be able to clean up the mess. The reason is, it would just be an interim committee. The interim committee members won’t be able to take any action against Sumathipala administration’s wrongdoings. And, without exposing Sumathipala administration all wrongdoings, appointing an interim committee will just be a waste of time!
Also, as Harin himself said that he prefers SLC election after the world cup, an interim committee can’t clean up the mess in just two, three or four months. Harin Fernando’s intentions are noble, but he can’t buy much time for interim committee, simply because ICC might not agree for this.
SLC is without a elected board since May 31st, and Sports Ministry could have been appointed as interim committee back then. Then, it would have been a logical move! However, with his political connections, Sumathipala not allowed it to happen, even though his own party SLFP Sports Minister Faizer Mustapha was dead against him.
Ideally, the best logical solution is that election must be held at planned and an committee can be appointed to clean up the mess and bring the changes in the constitution. With this, and most importantly, Harin Fernando should also give orders for an wholesale audit during last three years. More than anything else, the audit report itself will bury Sumathipala and his thugs!
