Follow Portia’s lead on Chris Gayle issue
Dear Editor,
Kudos to Jamaican Prime Minister Portia Simpson Miller for taking a stand on the Chris Gayle-West Indies Cricket Board (WICB) issue.
The response by the WICB was not only out of order and illogical, but it was also arrogant, disrespectful and smacked of ‘massa’ mentality.
To suggest that a prime minister was misinformed on a matter that has been so highly publicised is indicative of the attitude of the WICB over the years that it is the only repository of what is accurate and valid.
Furthermore, the claim that Gayle’s comments were “tantamount to a member of the Jamaican Cabinet lambasting and deriding the leader of the Cabinet and fellow Cabinet colleagues and being returned to that august body without any accountability for his or her actions” is ludicrous at best. For one, Gayle is not a member of the WICB, so he cannot be equated to a cabinet member. Second, like any citizen of the region, Gayle has the right to freedom of expression. Third, Gayle is not simply an employee of the board but a cricketer representing the entire West Indies and one who has done so with acclaim over the years.
Finally, the WICB is not a ruling cabinet with political power or a corporate board in charge of private interests but a group delegated by the people of the region to take care of our cricket.
The simple fact is that Gayle’s comments reflect the views of the majority of West Indian cricket fans. Thus, if the WICB was not a group of self-righteous dons, it would have been cognisant of the sentiments of Gayle and the thousands of others expressed over the years and really put in place measures to address the issues.
Portia Simpson Miller has taken a stand. It is time that other PMs and governments join her in calling on the WICB for accountability and reform so that our cricket can get back on a footing that would lay the base for its rise once again.
In the meantime, I am asking all fans of West Indies cricket to:
1. Write letters to the media calling on governments to follow the lead of the Jamaican prime minister.
2. Call, fax or write the West Indies Cricket Board to express your views about their management.
3. Log on the Facebook page ‘Guardians of WI Cricket’, click the like button (www.facebook.com/pages/Guardians-Of-WI-Cricket/353213088034412?sk=wall&filter=1) and share your views. Also invite others to do so.
4. Sign the petition that will be sent to the WICB link on the FB page ‘Guardians of WI Cricket’. The petition will be available soon.
Annan Boodram
The Caribbean Voice
