GEORGETOWN, Guyana — Yet another attempt is being made by CARICOM Heads of Government to help defuse mounting tensions among key actors involved in and relating to West Indies Cricket.
At the 23rd Inter-sessional meeting, which ended in Suriname on Friday, there were frank discussions among CARICOM Heads of Government on several critical issues surrounding and or involving West Indies cricket.
Chairman of the Conference, Suriname’s President Desi Delano Bouterse told journalists at the closing press conference that Heads of Government had agreed to seek an urgent meeting between the Prime Ministerial Sub-Committee on Cricket (PMSCC) and the West Indies Cricket Board (WICB) before the end of March to attempt to resolve several issues. He added that the Conference had also received a report from the government of Guyana regarding the ongoing situation on Cricket in that country.
Against this backdrop, Bouterse said the PMSCC had been given a mandate to deal with a number of the issues, including that of governance of cricket in the context of the Patterson Report; and also to mediate in the matter involving Former West Indies Captain, Chris Gayle and the “on-going troubles” plaguing Guyana’s cricket.
Bouterse said Heads of Government were also “firm in their condemnation” of recent statements by the West Indies Cricket Board (WICB) which they deemed as “disrespectful to the Prime Minister of Jamaica in particular and the West Indian people in general.”
On Another matter, Bouterse told journalists that the Conference had spent much time on the issue of crime and security “given its importance to the well-being of the people of the Community.” In this regard, they agreed on the need for a closer working relationship among the various security institutions even as a consultancy is in progress reviewing those institutions.
He added that the Conference also had a very productive exchange with the President of Chile Sebastián Piñera Echenique. That would serve to strengthen relations with that country. Concrete proposals in the fields of agriculture, disaster management and education for example were discussed and there was an expectation that the benefits of the exchange would soon be evident, he concluded.
(CARICOM press release)