KINGSTON, Jamaica (CMC) Cricket West Indies (CWI) President Dave Cameron said Caribbean prime ministers had the power to restructure the regional governing body if they so desired, but it was not solely his responsibility to undertake reform of the organisation.
Speaking on SportsMax here, Cameron argued that any governance restructuring needed to be initiated by the territorial boards which comprised CWI, and pointed out that the regional prime ministers pushing for reform could “instruct” the domestic associations accordingly.
“The prime ministers believe that the structure needs to change — the structure is not Dave Cameron’s structure, the structure is West Indies cricket’s structure,” the often controversial CWI chief said ahead of this weekend’s elections here.
“For the structure to change, all the territorial boards would have to say ‘this is what we want’, and these prime ministers are prime ministers of these countries. All they need to do is instruct their boards to change the structure accordingly. Why is that Dave Cameron’s problem?”
Cameron has come under pressure from Caricom in recent years to enact recommended CWI reforms, so as to ensure greater transparency and accountability in the organisation.
Gonsalves, meanwhile, has in the past slammed Cameron’s management style as “extremely poor” and, ahead of the 2015 CWI elections, urged territorial boards to tell the incumbent to “take a break and come back at a later date — perhaps with more mature, renewed skills of leadership”.
Rowley, too, has been critical of the CWI leadership, saying West Indies cricket had been “hijacked by a small clique of people”.
Cameron, who has been defending his record in the run-up to the elections, said contrary to popular belief, he enjoys a very good relationship with Caricom prime ministers, and it was only “two or three” with whom he did not see eye to eye.
“It is not Caricom — and we keep saying Caricom. There are two or three prime ministers who have a view,” he contended.
“There are a number of other prime ministers who have a contrary view and, if you know prime ministers, they are not going to come out publicly and fight against each other, and prime ministers Gonsalves and Mitchell are elder statesmen within the Caricom set-up.”
He continued: “But we have excellent relationships with Prime Minister [Allen] Chastanet [of St Lucia], Prime Minister Roosevelt Skerrit of Dominica — the Antigua and Barbuda Prime Minister [Gaston Browne] has written me a note publicly supporting what we are doing.
“[We have] relationships with the prime minister of Barbados (Mia Mottley)… as a matter of fact I have a personal relationship with Gonsalves and Prime Minister Mitchell as well. So again, we have no personal issues.”
Cameron is being challenged in Sunday’s CWI elections by former St Kitts and Nevis Cabinet Minister Ricky Skerritt, while Vice-President Emmanuel Nanthan is up against Dr Kishore Shallow.
Cameron and Nanthan are bidding for a fourth-successive term, after being first elected in 2013 when they toppled former St Lucian diplomat Julian Hunte.
Three prime ministers — Dr Ralph Gonsalves of St Vincent and the Grenadines, Dr Keith Mitchell of Grenada, and Trinidad and Tobago’s Dr Keith Rowley — have been especially vocal in their criticisms of Cameron and the organisation.
Mitchell, in his previous role as chairman of Caricom’s subcommittee on cricket, has repeatedly questioned Cameron’s leadership, and only last month said he did not think the Jamaican’s “attitude and mindset will take West Indies cricket forward”.
