WIPA president: WICB not truthful about governance committee report

 The West Indies Players Association (WIPA) has responded to the fact that Charles Wilkin decided to resign from the WICB governance committee after the board failed to implement all the points on his report for reform. According to WIPA: “The recent release by eminent St Kitt’s attorney, Charles Wilkin QC, in which he clarified the reasons for his resignation from the Governance Committee of the West Indies Cricket Board (WICB) which he chaired, contradicts the impression conveyed by the WICB in a news release that the major recommendations of the committee were accepted by the board. “Mr Wilkin said his resignation was prompted by the fact that the WICB’s directors wanted to preserve at all costs their positions on the board and that their blunt refusal to follow their own stated principles casts serious doubt on their commitment to the rest of the strategic plan and their capacity to implement it.

 

“This is the second governance report that the WICB has commissioned and rejected. As was the case with the Patterson Report, recommendations regarding the composition of the board have been ignored. The WICB also ignored the major recommendations of the Lucky Committee which investigated the circumstances surrounding the first Digicel sponsorship contract.” Michael Hall, WIPA’s CEO, pointed out that the board’s approach to governance is a serious problem and is at the core of most of the issues between WIPA and the WICB. “It is not coincidental,” he said, “that almost every relationship that the board has, whether with players, CEOs, sponsors, Heads of Government, arbitrators or independent volunteers has been dogged by controversy and acrimony. Clearly, since the same people are intent on doing the same things the same way, nothing will change.” Commenting on Wilkin’s resignation, WIPA president, Wavell Hinds, said, “Mr Wilkin is a former Leeward Islands cricketer and a highly reputable attorney. His resignation is regrettable but we support his position and would have been surprised had he acted otherwise in the face of a blatant attempt by the WICB to manipulate the truth about the board’s reaction to the recommendations of its own governance committee. WIPA is disappointed but not surprised.”