Angry PM blasts BCA
Web Posted – Wed Jul 11 2007SOME members of the Barbados Cricket Association (BCA) as well as Prime Minister Owen Arthur are upset that the organisation is bragging about financial profit, while local cricket and players are being denied the support they desperately need. Speaking to the Barbados Advocate on condition of anonymity, a few members expressed anger that the wrong message was being sent to the public about the BCA’s stewardship.
The goings-on at the Barbados Cricket Association (BCA) has always fascinated the BU household. The latest controversy centres around the statements coming from the outgoing President that the financial health of the BCA is good. The return of the BCA profit and loss account to the black can be attributed to proceeds from the merged lottery undertaken a few years back. At BU we are well aware that the politics practiced within the BCA is as thick as that practiced by the BLP and DLP. Barbadians must exercise the required intuitiveness to understand the war of words which has been shooting back and forth between Prime Minister Arthur and the BCA President Tony Marshall.
It seems two issues are interacting here which has led to a deterioration in the relationship between the BCA and the Prime Minister.
-
There has been a clash of two strong personalities (egos) in the form of retired banker Tony Marshall and Prime Minister Owen Arthur. If it was not known before it clearly came to a head in recent times when Tony Marshall vociferously proclaimed on the popular call in show Brasstacks that Kensington Oval is owned by the BCA. Prime Minister Arthur took umbrage to the statement and reminded all of Barbados that a Memorandum of Understanding sighed in 2002 agreed to a reconfiguration of the ownership structure to accommodate CWC 2007. Indeed if all parties could agree Barbadians would see the ownership of Kensington Oval vested in a holding company with government, through its agent the Barbados Investment Inc and the BCA owning the property.
-
The second issue is that BU is aware that Tony Marshall may have a political leaning which conflicts with Prime Minister Arthur. The rhetoric and the mouthing which have sputtered back and forth between the two can be be better understood against this background. Both men are building their legacies. In the case of the Prime Minister he knows that with an imminent general election he has to tidy-up this issue because CWC 2007 will be a major issue. In the case of Tony Marshall, when he took over the reigns of the BCA is was heavily in the red, under his stewardship he is able to boast that the BCA has attracted profit of 1.6 million dollars. As a banker he would have seen prioritized returning the BCA to profit as a priority.
Whatever the outcome of this recent impasse between the government and the BCA it will be perceived by the Barbadian public that it is simply business as usual. A review of the candidates proposed to replace Tony Marshall and other Board Members does not inspire the confidence that the successors will bring the required skills to the BCA to unravel this mess. Of the three candidates Basil Mathews is a jackass in a thoroughbred race, Calvin Hope must still be smarting from being unceremoniously dumped from the management team at the Barbados Tourism Authority under an Arthur Administration, and Joel Garner the great cricketer that was has not demonstrated in the post cricket years that he is anything more than a talker. What is going for Garner is that he is known to be a member of the BLP so that faction would be hoping he ascends to the presidency of the BCA.
Whatever happens cricket looks like it will continue to be a spectator.
Related BU Story
Barbados Cricket Association Versus The Government of Barbados~CWC Controversy Continues Unabated
At this point i do not think it is fair to characterize Tony Marshall’s comments about the financial health of the BCA as bragging. I remember listening to him when a question was posed by a reporter about the finances of the BCA to which he said they were healthy. Now I am very skeptical of Owen Arthur’s attempt to chide Mr. Marshall for his comments. There is an unusual similarity to a reporter’s question to Mia about condoms in the then Glendairy. Everyone who understands the genesis of that question and the ensuing fallout that Mia Mottley has suffered, should be wary of the current spin on Mr. Marshall’s comments about the financial health of the BCA. To mind Owen Arthur is attempting to claw his way back out of the “black-hole” he has found himself in by spending our money on property we do not own. We should not let him get away with it. We can view the BCA and it’s problems separately from Owen Arthur’s big mistake of spending taxpayers money Private property.
Mr Marshall has stepped aside this will now open the doors for Owing to get his case resolved with the likes of Joel Garner as the new president the issue will now move in the gov’t favour with Mr Garner’s support and blessing.
The question is how at this stage we are now trying to resolve the ownership of the oval I find this to a be shabby handling by those in command of our fate the PM and DPM have come out of this badly damaged our so called legal Guru Mottley has once again blabbered her way through but she has failed to deliver the goods once again, remember her handling of the tender for the prison which was so slackly done that the persons quoting had to rewrite the tender document, the fiasco of her handling of Edutech $ 300 million later and nothing to show for it nothing,the culture division well she had that taken back from her and slapped in the face by Owing, do we need to expose her inability or slackness any furter ?