Laying out the law for WICB's Hilaire

Patrick Rousseau, Contributor

Since Dr Ernest Hilaire continues to ignore the Code of Ethics and practices required by the code, I will lay out for him the several rules he has ignored. I also wish to suggest to the president of the Jamaica Cricket Association, only recently elected, that he must display the courage that allowed General Montgomery to be victorious at the second battle of El Alamein in the Desert War and file a report of the Chris Gayle breach of the code as he is allowed to do by Section 3, 1.1-(f) of the code.

For the information of the president, this report is filed in his capacity as president pursuant to Section 3, 2.1 (b) with the chief cricket operations officer. This simple step will trigger a procedure that ends up with the matter being placed before the Disciplinary Committee of the WICB. Such a step will instantly put an end to the questionable manoeuvrings of Dr Hilaire.

The Gayle Affair will now have to be dealt with following the procedure in Section 3 of the code, including the serving on Gayle of the accusation against him, and giving him 10 days to submit his response. Thereafter, the matter is referred to the Disciplinary Committee.

In the event that Dr Hilaire does not read his own code, I am emphasising that almost every rule under the code that deals with the disciplinary procedure indicates that the reference of the matter to anyone designated in the rules must be "as soon as reasonably practicable".

Code of conduct extracts

I list some interesting extracts from the code of conduct indicating why fairness and an even-handed approach are essential in dealing with the code, and this appears to have escaped Dr Hilaire. They are:

The code of conduct applies to all players and officials, whether on or off the field.

All players and officials are expected to conduct themselves at all times in a fair, honest, sportsmanlike and courteous manner.

The code shall be enforced in accordance with procedures laid down in these rules.

And perhaps Dr Hilaire can explain why he has ignored this one: The chief executive officer of the WICB may lodge a report with the chief cricket operations officer within 10 business days of becoming aware of any facts which are capable of substantiating a charge under this code.

I think Dr Hilaire should share with the public by what measure he could describe his treatment of Chris Gayle as having been conducted in a "fair and honest manner".

Equally, I would like Dr Hilaire to tell me why he has not pursued Professor Hilary Beckles in the same manner over his very offensive statement about Gayle where he claims, quite absurdly, that he was speaking in his personal capacity. The professor should remove himself from the board before he is thrown off for his remarks. It is impossible to speak critically about West Indies cricket and its players in a personal capacity while holding the post of a member of the board of directors. Even more disturbing was that the remarks related to an individual player by name, which means that he can no longer sit in any capacity at the board and exercise fair judgement on Gayle. This should automatically disqualify him from the board and all its committees.

In reviewing the comments made by Gayle, and since no official complaint has been made by the WICB, I have assumed, based on comments made by Dr Hilaire in one of his many pronouncements to the press, that Gayle is alleged to have offended Rule 6 and/or Rule 9, which read:

6. Players and team officials must not, at any time, engage in behaviour unbecoming that could bring the game of cricket into disrepute or be harmful to the interests of cricket.

9. Players and team officials shall not make public or media comment which is detrimental to the interests of the game.

As the prosecutor, judge and jury, Dr Hilaire has penalised and ill-treated Gayle, running him around from one group to another, without his being afforded his right to natural justice and the protection that it provides.

Gayle is without the benefit of a formal charge and an opportunity to defend himself before the very tribunal the WICB clothes with the authority to hear these matters.

In my 18-20 years of attending board meetings, I have never seen any player or official treated in this unfair and vile manner by any board official. Dr Hilaire must move rapidly to commence the "fair and honest" process prescribed by the code of conduct and give Gayle the opportunity to defend himself.

Patrick Rousseau is an attorney-at-law and former president of the WICB. Email feedback to columns@gleanerjm.com.

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