St. Vincent and the Grenadines Prime Minister Dr. Ralph Gonsalves is urging CARICOM to intervene in the impasse between the West Indies’ players, their union WIPA and the West Indies Cricket Board (WIBC).
Gonsalves is advocating the assembling of a three-member CARICOM panel to help resolve the ongoing contract wage dispute.
In a letter to WICB President Dave Cameron recently, Gonsalves said the current crisis was too serious a matter to be solved by the board alone, and suggested the wider engagement of CARICOM.
Gonsalves proposed the panel be comprised of current CARICOM Chairman, Antigua’s Prime Minister Gaston Browne, Grenada’s Prime Minister Dr. Keith Mitchell and former Jamaica Prime Minister P. J. Patterson.
“I consider that a mature engagement with regional governments through CARICOM may assist in finding satisfactory ways to the impasse, Gonsalves,” said in the letter.
He added: “I don’t think that this huge complicated issue can be handled in an adhoc manner or by the WICB alone. This is an extraordinary enterprise which takes beyond the boundary.”
Dr. Gonsalves, who played a key role in resolving the impasse between the WICB and Chris Gayle two years ago, said while his proposal was not a new one “the urgency of now demands its embrace.”
According to Gonsalves’ proposals, the CARICOM panel would focus not only on solving the current impasse, but on several other key issues in West Indies cricket, which include the tensions between the WICB and the Indian Cricket Board and reform of the management of the WICB.
