WICB Security Manager for Regional cricket- Hilaire

Sep 06, 2010 Sports

After incident between Guyana team Analyst and WIPA President

By Sean Devers
West Indies Cricket Board (WICB) Chief Executive Officer (CEO) Ernest Hilaire yesterday informed Kaieteur News vie e-mail that the WICB is finalizing arrangements for a Security Manager for Regional matches.
The St Lucian Hilaire said that an incident in Trinidad on February 19 during the 2010 Regional First-Class tournament involving West Indies Players Association (WIPA) President Dinanath Ramnarine and Guyana team Video Analyst Robin Singh highlighted the need for a Security Manager at Regional matches.
Singh alleged that Ramnarine threatened him and the incident was subsequently reported to the Police and the WICB, while a formal complaint was lodged with the Trinidad & Tobago Cricket Board (TTCB).
Singh told Kaieteur Sport that the incident stemmed from a query from him (Singh) questioning Ramnarine’s presence in the National Cricket Centre’s dinning room where he was holding a meeting with young members of the Guyana squad.
The Analyst said Ramnarine, a former T&T and West Indies leg-spinner, insulted him when he (Ramnarine) was informed that the area was not a public place and told him (Singh) ‘Trinidadians wouldn’t waste a bullet on you.’
When contacted via telephone, Ramnarine said that based on legal advice he would not offer a comment on the matter at this time.
A copy of the Police report which was sent to Kaieteur Sport showed that the report was made on February 20 but that Ramnarine was never interviewed.
The findings by the TTCB, which was also sent to this news paper stated that Robin Singh (Complainant), Dinanath Ramnarine, Carl Moore (Manager Guyana Team) and Davendra Bishoo and Zaheer Mohammed (Guyana Players) were interviewed as part of their investigations.
The TTCB reported that Moore indicated that Ramnarine did not seek permission to speak with his players but he had no objections to him doing so. In fact he loaned his pen to Ramnarine to assist him in the preparing tag documents for the players to sign.
The report added that Mohammed indicated that he had invited Mr. Ramnarine to his room to discuss WIPA’s matters while Bishoo indicated that he was the one who took Mohammed’s message to Ramnarine and in fact showed him to Mohammed‘s room.
The TTCB concluded that as the Players’ Representative Ramnarine did not enter private property and in fact had the tacit approval of the manager and was asked to be there by the players. The TTCB report also said that there was at no time a serious breach of protocol by Ramnarine.
But yesterday, over six months since the TTCB report was submitted to the WICB, Hilaire said the matter is not yet concluded.  “It will be the subject of discussion at the appropriate time. It is my expectation that matter will be dealt with in the context of hosting regional tournaments as it was directly related to the obligations of the host board for a regional tournament.
“The matter relating to Mr. Singh remains an outstanding matter and is not closed. Mr. Singh made a police report indicating that Mr. Ramnarine had threatened his life. The TTCB conducted an investigation into the matter and has forwarded a report to the WICB; however the report has not been addressed to the Board for discussion,” Hillarie disclosed to Kaieteur Sport.
“Beyond the individual in question, this incident raises issues with security of players and officials. The WICB, consistent with the ICC requirements to have a Security Manager in place for international cricket, is finalizing arrangements for the employment of a Security Manager who will also oversee security arrangements for cricket for which WICB is responsible,” said Hilaire, who served as the Permanent Secretary in the Ministry of Sport in St. Lucia and in 1997 was appointed by then Prime Minister Dr. Kenny Anthony as his attaché.
The relationship between WIPA’s President and several WICB is less than cordial with the players’ association consistently emerging victorious against the Board in a number of issues and it is strange that the WICB has not yet formally discussed the TTCB findings on the incident between Singh and Ramnarine.