BCA legal minds planning “surgery” on Wehby governance report
BRIDGETOWN, Barbados, CMC – Barbados Cricket Association president, Conde Riley, said yesterday the local governing body had established a “high-powered” committee to examine the recommendations put forward recently by the Independent Task Force for Corporate Governance Reform.
Riley, a prominent Cricket West Indies director, told a media conference here the committee would carry out “surgery” on the 36-page governance report with a sense of “urgency” and expected to be able to submit its findings within a month.
“We are in the process as a board of putting together a group to do a surgery on the proposals,” Riley said.
“Our committee that we have put together will look at it, come back to the board and then we will make our submission.
“I remember the last report was the Barriteau Report which said they would dissolve Cricket West Indies – it cannot be done in law. I’m not a lawyer … but I know you cannot take over a company.
“The only body that can do that would be the shareholders and all six shareholders would have to agree to that. If one says no, it’s over.
“But we will report to our membership and the people of Barbados in due course once that committee does its surgery on this report.”
The BCA is one of six constituent boards of CWI currently mulling over the report which was submitted last week by task force chairman, Jamaican businessman and senator Don Wehby.
Among the recommendations is a reduction in the size of the board from its current total of 18 members to 12, and the inclusion of at least two women to reflect diversity.
The report also calls for a decrease in committees from 12 to five and a redefining of the roles of the president and vicepresident in order to strengthen their nonexecutive nature.
Riley, who has often been at odds with the current Ricky Skerritt-led administration, said he had no issues with reducing the size of the board once the executive functions were carried out efficiently.
“If they say – and again the shareholders would have to agree to this – you reduce the board instead of having two directors per shareholder you have one, once you have the executive arm functioning properly I have no difficulty with that,” Riley explained.
“But as I said, we’re going to deal with it as a board, take the advice of the committee which we’ve put together and the committee is a fairly high-powered one.
“We have asked that this thing be dealt with ASAP so I hope that within a month, we will have a report if not sooner.”
The task force was commissioned by Skerritt, following his unseating of threeterm incumbent Dave Cameron last year, making good on a campaign promise to review the governance structure of CWI once elected.
Wehby’s committee comprised an eminent group of Caribbean personalities with University of the West Indies (UWI) vicechancellor, Professor Sir Hilary Beckles; West Indies Vice-Captain Deryck Murray; Jamaican businessman, OK Melhado and prominent Caribbean lawyer Charles
Wilkin QC, all helping pen the report.
Skerritt said CWI was determined to “do all we can to ensure the implementation of this report.”