NEW PCB CONSTITUTION: Unelected BoG members likely to have the final say

ISLAMABAD: The new constitution of the Pakistan Cricket Board that got the federal cabinet’s nod on Friday gives a highly undemocratic look with all decisive powers in the hands of unelected members of the Board of Governors (BoG).

A copy of the new PCB constitution is with ‘The News’.

Of the total 11 BoG members, 10 will have voting right to decide on any important matter. Out of these 10, seven will be nominated, rather than elected who should have come up from a systematic evaluation from the grassroots level.

The BoG formation suggests that two nominees of the PCB patron will be part of it. The chief executive officer, who is already appointed by the chairman on the recommendations of his own formed committee, will be the third member of the board.

The new constitution also ensures inclusion of four independent members in the BoG. These members will be nominated by a three-member committee which would include two members of the old BoG — one of them could well be PCB chairman himself — and one independent.

The four will then raise the overall strength of non-elected members in the BoG to seven, which means they will have the ultimate power — 70 percent authority — to decide the fate of cricket in Pakistan.

This new combination gives immense power to non-elected officials which is in sharp contrast to the ICC directives that are evident from the May 27, 2019 letter written by the cricket board to Secretary Inter Provincial Coordination Akbar Durrani in which the PCB says that by virtue of being the members of the ICC, all the national cricket federations are required to put in place a democratic and transparent system of governance but also pay heed to recommendations of the Wolf Report of the ICC.

One of these recommendations is to minimise the involvement of the government in the functioning of respective cricket boards.

The letter further adds that Sri Lanka Cricket’s interim set up member was not allowed to sit in the ICC meeting in the past as he was only allowed to participate as an observer and Sri Lanka’s funding was also blocked. The PCB does not want any such scenario as it receives heavy amount annually from the ICC.

However, the formation of the BoG in the new constitution gives a totally opposite story. Almost 70 percent of powers to run the PCB will be in hands of nominated rather than elected officials.

The new PCB constitution has also abolished the role of district associations in the PCB general council. The previous constitution had a 101-member general council. Now the city cricket associations — new names for district cricket associations — are thrown out in an effort to further marginalise the scope and powers of the general council.

In sharp contrast to strengthen grassroots cricket, the new constitution has also omitted the vital clause of active club from the definition chapter.

The PCB constitution also has a clause for formation of provincial associations and getting them registered under Societies Act which will polarise the political side of these associations to the core.

Both departments and regions have been abolished and first class cricket will be reduced to only six teams to be managed by appointed provincial cricket association boards for at least one year before holding their elections. Once in power, there is all the likelihood that those pulling the strings of provincial associations for the initial season will continue.

Though the powers of chairman and CEO are defined and separated but still the buck stops at the chairman’s desk. He is still a powerful man as the CEO will report to him and the BoG.

In another interesting clause, only three previous BoG members (two nominated by the patron — in this case Ehsan Mani and Asad Khan — and CEO) will be part of the new BoG set up.

When a PCB spokesperson was approached on the undemocratic look of the new constitution, he said the board had yet to get a copy of the approved constitution. “Once we get it we will be in a position to answer your concerns,” he said.