Category: CANA News

In a scathing indictment of the current state of West Indies cricket, former Trinidad and Tobago Prime Minister and ex-CARICOM cricket committee head Dr Keith Rowley has called for a complete and immediate ‘reset,’ labelling the team’s historic 90-run capitulation to Nepal a ‘disaster’ that demands radical action.

Former Trinidad and Tobago Prime Minister and ex-CARICOM cricket committee head Dr Keith Rowley,

Taking to social media in the wake of the humiliating defeat, Dr Rowley expressed emotions shared by millions across the Caribbean: fear, anger, and profound sadness.

He stated that the loss, coming so soon after the team’s 27 all-out collapse against Australia in July, is a ‘gut punch’ from which the sport’s governing body cannot simply shrug off.

‘I fear that someone in Cricket West Indies will try to rationalise this and find ‘positives’!’ Rowley wrote, pre-empting the kind of post-match analysis that has often followed such failures.

His solution was blunt and immediate: ‘My God, keep the bowlers and fire ALL the batsmen, at least for now! We want COMMITMENT and guts and grit and, of course, some talent. We must START OVER!’

The former leader placed the blame squarely on the current administrative structure, identifying the controversial ‘one coach, one selector’ experiment as a primary cause of the team’s decline.

‘Clearly, it has failed spectacularly. It must end NOW!’ he declared, demanding a return to an ‘accountable development model which is based on performance, improvement and progress.’

Rowley warned that patience without tangible results is a ‘giant waste of time’ and that the situation is too dire for minor adjustments.

‘No scalpel will suffice here. A comprehensive RESET is called for,’ he asserted, insisting on the establishment of minimum performance standards.

In his most dramatic prescription for recovery, Dr Rowley issued a clarion call to Cricket West Indies to enlist the help of the region’s most revered legends.

‘Assemble a small team of successful individuals and assign them a role and some authority. Call in Lloyd, Lara, Roberts, Holding, and Ambrose to begin with and start a fishing program with a purpose,’ he urged, referencing icons Clive Lloyd, Brian Lara, Andy Roberts, Michael Holding, and Curtly Ambrose.

‘Given this disaster,’ he concluded, ‘Cricket West Indies needs to CALL IN THE CAVALRY!!!’

The post ended with a stark warning to the administrators, reminding them of their ultimate accountability: ‘You need to talk to Caribbean people; otherwise, they will reject and eject you eventually.’

The President of the Grenada Union of Teachers (GUT), Jude Bartholomew, is urging the government to resume the payment of allowances that were removed from principals of both primary and secondary schools after the government enforced the latest collective bargain for teachers.

‘The Grenada Union of Teachers in the last negotiating cycle, we negotiated a benefit for principals, nobody wanted to be principal because principals were the lowest paid, the pay was even lower than teachers who were in the system,’ Bartholomew told a news conference.

GUT president Jude Bartholomew

‘We successfully negotiated to bring up the pay and grade of principals, the primary schools principals from H to I and secondary schools principals from I to J and what the principals are saying, even while they receive payment of the new grade, somehow in the Ministry of Education have gotten rid of the allowances,’ he added.

‘The principals are saying it is unjust, it’s unfair,’ said Bartholomew who recommended that the government restore the allowances in recognition of World Teachers Day which will be commemorated globally on October 5.

He said besides resuming the payment of allowances to principals, the union also wants the teachers who are acting as principals to receive some form of payment for their service to the education system.

Bartholomew called on the government to pay the seniority allowance to teachers who complete teachers colleges. He said that payment has been in a collective agreement clause over the years and administrations have failed to make this payment to those who qualify for it.

‘Only one set of people who received that, once you finish college as a qualified teacher and you pass three appraisals you should be receiving the seniority allowance and it has not been paid across administrations.it should not stop until Government has a new pay and grade for teachers,’ he said.