CWI president rubbishes Sanasie's claims

Cricket West Indies (CWI) incumbent president Ricky Skerritt has rubbished allegations against him of unethical conduct by presidential candidate Anand Sanasie.

Sanasie, secretary of the Guyana Cricket Board (GCB), accused Skerritt of improper conduct after alleging that a recent meeting between Skerritt, other CWI board members and Guyana's Minister of Sport Charles Ramson Jr was illegitimately convened.

He claims the meeting was held without convening the full board, and the decisions taken there were deliberately made to give Skerritt an unfair advantage in his bid for re-election. The CWI election takes place on Sunday.

Sanasie also claims decisions stemming from this meeting, namely a quickly convened Guyana Cricket Board (GCB) election, were specifically designed to keep Sanasie off the ballot.

Neither Sanasie nor his running mate Calvin Hope of Barbados had been notified of the meeting. The GCB secretary also said he had reported Skerritt to CWI’s Ethics Committee.

Skerritt denied Sanasie's allegations and dubbed his actions “baseless tactics.”

In a media release on Monday, Skerritt said, “Other than through Mr Sanasie’s public announcement, I have not been notified that there is any matter before the Ethics Committee.”

He also took a jab at Hope, who, Skerritt said, made similar allegations against him in 2020.

“I also note for the record that, just in the last year, there have been two previous mischievous attempts by Mr Sanasie’s running mate, Calvin Hope, to accuse me of unethical conduct during my tenure as CWI president,” he said.

"On both occasions the Ethics Committee found that there was no basis to Hope’s complaints.”

Skerritt said Sanasie was showing a contemptuous disregard for the established system for electing a CWI president.

He added that it “is Sanasie’s own disregard for good governance and his disrespect for the judicial system, which seven years ago brought about related government legislation, designed to prevent his continued abuse of the GCB.”

Skerritt said even if was reported to the Ethics Committee, such a complaint could not disqualify him from nomination for the CWI presidency.

“This attempt to involve the Ethics Committee in petty politics further highlights my concern that Sanasie’s only plan for West Indies cricket is to get power over it, by any means whatsoever,” Skerritt concluded.

Skerritt and his running mate Dr Kishore Shallow are seeking a second two-year team. They took charge in 2018 after defeating Dave Cameron and his vice president Emmanuel Nanthan.