GEORGETOWN, Guyana (CMC) – Outgoing chairman of the CARICOM Subcommittee on Cricket Governance, Prime Minister Dr Keith Mitchell, says the problems plaguing West Indies cricket cannot be solved by the opinions of individual regional leaders.

Speaking to reporters at the 37th Regular Meeting of the Conference of CARICOM Heads of Government here Wednesday, Mitchell said regional Heads had already made a collective decision on the way forward for West Indies cricket and that was for the recommendations of the CARICOM-commissioned Barriteau Report, to be implemented.

The main recommendation of the report was for the dissolution of the West Indies Cricket Board.

But with Antigua and Barbuda Prime Minister Gaston Browne breaking ranks last month to “categorically reject the call for the dissolution of the West Indies Cricket Board”, Mitchell reminded that singular voices did not take precedence over CARICOM’s position.

“[It is a] common position of the Heads, not individual positions and we cannot operate on the basis of individual positions, it’s about the Heads,” Mitchell said.

“When I expressed my sentiments on cricket, it was about what the Heads said – the committee that we established jointly with the West Indies Cricket Board – and we agreed between the subcommittee and the West Indies Cricket Board to implement the recommendations.

“So it was not a Keith Mitchell decision, it was not a Keith Mitchell activity, it was a committee set up by the West Indies Cricket Board and the Heads of Government.”

Mitchell has been at the forefront of efforts to have the Governance Report implemented but has received firm opposition from the WICB who slammed the recommendation as an “unnecessary and intrusive demand” and have argued it was not a “viable legal or practical option.”

In a major speech on cricket in Barbados last May, Mitchell announced he would be stepping down from the chairmanship of the CARICOM Subcommittee, but said Wednesday he would continue to offer his input.

“As you know, the Prime Ministerial subcommittee can call on any member of the Heads at any given time so the Prime Minister of Grenada will always be there to give support in whatever form because I would never remove myself from West Indies cricket. It is too close to my heart,” the Grenadian leader said.

Veteran St Vincent and the Grenadines Prime Minister, Dr Ralph Gonsalves has assumed chairmanship of the committee, with Jamaica and Barbados as the two members.

Gonsalves has been an outspoken critic of the current WICB adminstration and last year called for President Dave Cameron’s resignation.