Heads of Government of the Caribbean Community (CARICOM) have decided that there will now be a single Prime Ministerial Sub-Committee on Cricket that will handle all aspects of the game.
Prime Minister Roosevelt Skerrit, Chair of the Conference of Heads of Government said Wednesday evening, that instead of two Prime Ministerial sub-Committees on Cricket – one on Governance and one on other cricket matters – there will now be only one.
The Prime Minister made the announcements at a press conference at the Pegasus Hotel in Georgetown, Guyana where the 37th CARICOM Heads of Government Meeting had earlier concluded. The re-constituted Sub-Committee will be Chaired by Dr. the Hon. Ralph Gonsalves, Prime Minister of St. Vincent and the Grenadines. The Heads of Government agreed that the other members would be the Prime Minister of Barbados and the Prime Minister of Jamaica, even though membership of the Sub-Committee will be open ended, as is the case with all CARICOM Prime Ministerial Sub-Committees.
“The (new) Sub-Committee on cricket … will be mandated to examine all matters related to the development of cricket, which is a very wide area of concentration,” Prime Minister Skerrit said.
Earlier on Wednesday, Prime Minster of Grenada, Dr. the Hon. Keith Mitchell, told representatives of the media that he had relinquished his position as Chairman of the Governance Sub-Committee. Under Prime Minister Mitchell’s Chairmanship of the Governance Sub-Committee, an independent panel was established to review the governance of cricket following a meeting with the West Indies Cricket Board (WICB). The panel was chaired by principal of the Cave Hill Campus of the University of the West Indies, Professor Eudine Barriteau, and included president of the Caribbean Court of Justice (CCJ) Sir Denis Byron, former Trinidad and Tobago and West Indies cricketer Mr. Deryck Murray, president of the Caribbean Development Bank (CDB),Dr Warren Smith, and president of the Grenada Cricket Association, Mr. Dwain Gill.
The review panel submitted the report to CARICOM late last year after three months of consultation. The panel recommended an immediate dissolution of the WICB. The WICB disagreed with the recommendation.
In a Communique issued at the conclusion of the Meeting, Heads of Government expressed appreciation to Prime Minister Mitchell for his “untiring efforts in furtherance of the development of West Indies cricket”.
Cricket was one of the key items Heads of Government considered at their Conference 4-6 July in Georgetown.
