Vendetta against Gayle, Hilaire is petty, vindictive

The West Indies Cricket Board (WICB) has a published code of conduct, and the players, in their contracts with the board, acknowledge and accept this code and are bound by it. By implication, the employees and board members are expected, too, to observe it at all times. It includes a procedure for dealing with breaches of the code, and this is the proper procedure to follow. Dr Ernest Hilaire has not followed this code in dealing with the Chris Gayle radio interview.

The CEO of the WICB continues his personal vendetta against Chris Gayle by delaying the resolution of the issue between Mr Gayle and the WICB. What is his authority for demanding that Chris Gayle deal with these various subgroups of the WICB? If he has done so with the approval and support of the president and the board, they are all in breach of their own code.

Dr Hilaire has ignored the WICB code and deliberately delayed the matter by referring Mr Gayle to have meetings with the team management and the WICB selectors. Dr Hilaire now wants to have a meeting between him and Gayle. He advises Mr Gayle that this meeting cannot take place until he returns to office sometime in August because he will be away travelling outside the region. Mr Hilaire has no authority to refer this matter to the various groups.

I am not prepared to sit and watch this process continue in breach of the code, and I intervene in the cause of fairness and natural justice. I accuse the CEO, Dr Hilaire, of fixing the agenda in the Chris Gayle matter and not following the board's constitution and its code, by correctly referring the matter to the Disciplinary Committee of the WICB. I note that the Disciplinary Committee shows the members as Mr Justice Saunders, Dr Lloyd Barnett and Andy Roberts and Dr Hilaire as an "ex-officio member", and the latter is clearly an error. The CEO is the person who represents the WICB at the hearings and cannot be both complainant and judge; he, therefore, should not be a member of the committee.

I attended board meetings of the WICB for about 18 years, including three years as president, and I have never witnessed any CEO operate in this manner. Dr Hilaire may not like the comments made by Chris Gayle to the media, but the long-established precedent is to refer incidents in breach of the code, including issues like the one involving Mr Gayle, to a disciplinary committee. The committee then follows the constitution and rules of the WICB and summons Mr Gayle to a hearing. In the past, the hearing was held within a short period of time, out of respect for the person's position as a West Indies player.

A hearing is then held, and after the committee has heard all the evidence, it makes a decision and, may or may not, impose sanctions on the player. In such a case, Mr Gayle is not only entitled to be legally represented but can present evidence in relation to his position. In all sports governing bodies, this is a normal procedure, and I accuse Dr Hilaire of aborting the process. I remind Dr Julian Hunte, president of the WICB, that in the past he has insisted on the protection of the right of the player to a fair hearing before a Disciplinary Committee.

While Dr Hilaire plays his game of being judge, prosecutor and jury, and deliberately tries to frustrate Chris Gayle and deprive him of earning a living from West Indies cricket, we the public suffer through watching the kind of performance by the team that we have seen against Pakistan and India so far this year.

Dr Hilaire must begin to recognise that West Indies cricket is far more important than him or any position that he holds at the WICB. Although the fault may not be all on his side, his term has been characterised by the constant squabbling with the West Indies Players' Association (WIPA) and individuals. He must eschew the petty behaviour displayed so far and accept that the individual players are not responsible for any unacceptable behaviour from Mr Dinanath Ramnarine or any other executive of WIPA, and they are entitled to be treated with respect by employees of the board, and that includes him.

The handling of the Chris Gayle matter by Dr Hilaire not only infringes the code of the WICB regarding disciplinary matters but smacks of a petty, vindictive agenda against Mr Gayle, starting with his comments about Gayle when Dr Hilaire was appointed as CEO and before he had even taken up the post.

The 'Gayle Affair', as conducted by Dr Hilaire, exceeds all my expectations of comic buffoonery. As a mentor to Chris Gayle since he was a schoolboy cricketer, I find the hilarity provided by Dr Hilarious less than funny. Although the names of the Disciplinary Committee are published on the WICB website, Dr Hilaire seems to ignore them.

The president and the board must intervene and send the matter to a disciplinary committee for a hearing.

Patrick Rosseau is a businessman and former president of the WICB. Email feedback to columns@gleanerjm.com.