PORT OF SPAIN, Trinidad - THE West Indies Cricket Board (WICB) is currently immersed in arrangements for its annual general meeting on March 27 at a time when the governing body of this region’s most popular game continues to reveal serious leadership weaknesses, and an alarming consistency for ignoring well-intentioned “time-for-change” recommendations.
Perhaps some of the best known major recommendations for structural changes, creative policies and programmes are located in the October 2007 “Report on Governance of West Indies Cricket”.
Interestingly, this committee was established by the WICB, largely on an initiative by Caricom, at a time of perceived widening crises, including poor management and recurring conflicts between the WICB and the West Indies Players’ Association (WIPA).Now, more than five years later, because of a convergence of seeming old boys’ interests, blended with a shared passion for retaining the management status quo, cricket-loving people of our region remain exposed to contempt from the WICB’s decision-makers on the implementation process of that Governance Committee Report. The big “news” at this time is focused on who will be elected or re-elected to the leadership of the WICB. Will, for instance, the incumbent four-time president Julian Hunte of St Lucia again succeed in his bid for re-election; or will the prize go to his Jamaican vice-president pal, Whycliffe Cameron, who has been eyeing his chances for the number one spot?