THE FOLLOWING is a statement by Rawle Brancker, former chairman of ICC CWC 2007, in response to questions posed in an Editor's Diary column by Roxanne Gibbs, in yesterday's DAILY NATION:

I WANT to respond to an article by Roxanne Gibbs, which appeared on Page 9 of yesterday's paper under the caption Don't Take Our CWC Slice Away.

There is need to set the record straight on this, because it is a potentially contentious matter.

People across the Caribbean are very concerned about what is in the World Cup
for Caribbean people, and especially small business people.

The questions tendered, if allowed to stay unanswered, could leave the public to assume that I was involved in a process that was contrary to the agreed process
of CWC and my own personal convictions. I want to state categorically that this is not so.

The items referred to – caps, ties, t-shirts and other gift items – which were given to those who attended the brand launch in Trinidad on July 19, were designed, ordered and, I presumed, paid for without any reference to the board whatsoever.

I was the most surprised person that morning to see these items because I had no previous knowledge of them. I never saw samples. I was never even given an opportunity to discuss the idea or its cost.

For the brand launch, the board was presented with a budget which I insisted upon for that launch. We saw it, disagreed with it, instructed that it be cut and it was re-presented, approved and never did I see included, any such items as the give-aways,
or their cost.

I was also unaware that a contract was given to a company as far away as Australia to supply these items when there are so many companies across the Caribbean which
have been successfully producing and marketing such items and I am sure had full
competence to supply them on time, in as good quality and at competitive prices.

The last major disagreement I had with CWC management was at our Guyana
board meeting over the mascot and logo and it was related to this matter.

The board wanted to see certain changes made to the logo and management insisted
that they could not be entertained because it was too late and it would have affected the date of the brand launch and all the other licensing matters.

Now that I have seen the label of the supplying company Corporate Express, which I do not know and which had been given a licence to produce these items in far away Australia, it would seem to me that this could have been one of the reasons for management's unwillingness to have any change to the logo because these items were already ordered and possibly produced.

I would imagine that if they were going to be made in China and Australia and supplied from Australia, there would certainly have to be three to four months lead time given the distance.

Rather than honestly tell us this, CWC management gave all kinds of other excuses
why the changes could not be made knowing that the orders had already been placed.

This is the kind of accountability problems that I've always talked about. This is an example of the kind of problems we as a board had to deal with – that is being told one thing and something else done.

If this practice continues, it has the potential to ruin the World Cup and the
hopes and aspirations of many small business people in the Caribbean.

I would just like to repeat on behalf of the board which I chaired ... that we had absolutely nothing to do with the approval, ordering, or the granting of a licence to any company in Australia or anywhere else in the world.

We never saw these items, never knew about them or their costs, the latter not even after the brand launch.

I want to make the position clear so that I, as then chairman and the other board members, are not wrongly implicated in this disgraceful matter.