Making a brief virtual intervention at the CARICOM Regional Cricket Conference in Trinidad and Tobago on Thursday and later in a detailed video presentation, President Irfaan Ali made the announcement that Guyana will be launching the World Premier League (WPL) which will promote West Indian cricket.
While the details of this venture have not been fleshed out, it is yet unclear from his presentation how the proposed franchise-type event will restore the halcyon days of West Indian Test cricket or even save the most hallowed format of this wonderful game which faces a decidedly uncertain future. What was even more jarring to some is that in the grandiose adumbration of a cricketing future there was no evidence of commensurate intention, let alone investment, in preserving the historic Bourda sward and possibly transforming it into a testament to the glorious history of Guyanese and West Indies cricket. It lies in utterly shameless ruins. We do not recall the word Bourda being mentioned by the President though the Barbadian PM Mia Mottley in her contribution did underline the importance of the refurbishment of the Kensington Oval and her insistence that an indoor facility be created for youth.
How cricket will fare with the proposed World Premier League is not the purpose of this editorial. Governance, good governance is its main concern. President Ali has developed a penchant for sole decision-making as it relates to Guyana, its space and its patrimony. His declaration that a World Premier League will be created was not anchored to any type of foundation at all. There is no trail of discussions with the cricketing fraternity here, no conferring with civil society and the opposition or even the hint of a presentation in Parliament.
That cannot be the way governance is dispensed and it is not in keeping with the constant recitation of `One Guyana’ which must surely mean in its elemental makeup that all of Guyana is fully engaged in the decisions to shape this country. Perhaps, it was the intention of the President to engage in dialogue after the fact but that is entirely indefensible.
Judging by how he presented it, the WPL will have its centre of gravity in Guyana and would no doubt require massive outlays to create the requisite infrastructure and to attract stars to the game. It appears intended to wrest prestige and viewership from the Indian Premier League to be facilitated by the oil largesse that this government has become so infatuated with the Natural Resource Fund hardly has any purpose at this point except to receive and remit almost all proceeds.
While it is still early days and the question of the structure of the WPL has not been elaborated on, the President and the PPP/C government must be aware that embarking upon an initiative that is national in character and will most likely require serious financing not only has to be discussed broadly but it must also be ranked on the scale of priorities facing the country.
President Ali and the government must not believe that they can on their own launch off on a project of this scale which will no doubt be marketed in a manner to boost the ruling party’s electoral chances and burnish the image of the government. There are far more important priorities.
On a weekly basis, in its cost of living series, Stabroek News has chronicled the travails of ordinary people trying to make ends meet and calculating what their priorities are with their stagnant monthly incomes. Approaching five years of oil production, few of them would say that they are better off today or have benefited directly from oil revenues. President Ali – who ironically mentioned the cost of living in his virtual presentation to the cricketing conference – cannot be oblivious to the poverty stalking communities all across the country. In terms of priorities, that reality and the need to remedy it is light years ahead of this WPL which was so airily spoken of. Where is the hard graft of the government to ease deep-seated pockets of poverty in the country? These attempts are sporadic like the recent transport of cassava to Region Nine which told its own story of food insecurity in the country.
There are endless other priorities for the monies flowing into the country to trigger the energy of the government. Venezuela’s outrageous claim remains an existential threat to the sovereignty of this country. Where is the massive local and international campaign to chronicle the justness of Guyana’s case going as far back as possible and composing it in as many physical and digital formats as possible and disseminating widely? That task alone is akin to a World Premier League, a far more important one. Guyana’s recent engagement of the UN Security Council on Venezuelan belligerence left much to be desired as it related to the internal discussions. Why haven’t missions been mounted to the capitals of the non-permanent members in particular: Algeria, Ecuador, Japan, Malta, Mozambique, Sierra Leone, Slovenia, South Korea and Switzerland to supply them with as much information as possible to mobilise more committed support for Guyana’s position?
What about a structured programme of assistance to Cuba which though under the unconscionable and punishing US embargo since 1958 has provided heroic help to our health sector by virtue of medical teams and the training of Guyanese students? It has fallen on very hard times but yet is assisting this month with engineers for our beleaguered power system.
There are any number of other priorities far worthier than this WPL whatever shape or form it may take. As a cautionary note, it appears that the President has envisaged some special role for the Caribbean Premier League (CPL) in the WPL. He would have heard enough from the conference on Thursday that that would be most unwise given the current deal with the CPL and the fact that not enough is known about which governments are contributing to it and what it is making annually.
Taking everything into account, the manner in which the President advised the local and regional audience about the WPL is just not cricket.
