Dear Editor,
The former American President Bill Clinton asked himself in his autobiography why he engaged in a sick little affair with a kid in the White House. The only answer he could come up with was that he could do it. The habit of exercising power without regard to principle is one of the worst weaknesses. It is a failing that is widespread.
Because of the harm it can do and often does, the most despised profession has developed a strategy called judicial review to control the arbitrary exercise of power wherever a toehold can be found. It is the reason that those who make decisions having significant consequences are often required by law to provide reasons for their decisions. The lawyers cannot always find a toehold, but they try mightily hard when the damage to the victim or victims is really insufferable.
As a judge in perhaps the fifth biggest city in North America I have had some experience with judicial review and have developed a keen sense of its importance, and I tend in my retirement to be especially sensitive to abuse of power. I have come to believe that the major problem with the WICB is not incompetence, but rather a tendency to do things or make decisions because like Clinton they have the power to do as they please.
Recently I wrote two or three times to the ICC, and have received short acknowledgements of receipt on a few occasions. I have never received an acknowledgement of receipt from the WICB, and I often foolishly wonder if my many letters are received and thrown in the garbage or never received at all.
The WICB recently not only sacked Darren Sammy from the captaincy of the West Indies Twenty Over team that has won two championships, but dropped him from the squad. Sammy is one of the world`s best fielders in the opinion of foreign cricket stalwarts like Gavaskar. He is among the greatest six hitters in the game, and until recently a very reliable, accurate medium paced bowler. In addition he was regarded not long ago in the region as an exceptional leader and internationally today as one of the finest gentlemen in the game.
From all available reports he was dismissed in the most painful and unprofessional manner, and replaced by a young man with a Cinderella record but virtually no experience. Why did the WICB do it? Because they find it unacceptable that someone in Sammy`s position should exercise his precious right to free speech and publicly criticise them. Because they believe they have the power to act without giving reasons for their action, they just did it. They did the same thing with Bravo and Pollard in selecting the team for the last fifty over World Cup. They keep acting unreasonably with impunity.
No organization can be effective, indeed even useful if it does not believe it is necessary to provide thoughtful reasons for its decisions. It will always be seen as a bunch of bandits that is incapable of fulfilling its mandate.
Yours faithfully,
Romain Pitt
