THE Barbados Cricket Association (BCA) has been asked to take fresh guard.A radical transformation of the island’s governing body of cricket could be on the cards if the board of management accepts the proposals of two of its committees aimed at improving the efficiency of its operations and bringing them more in line with modern practices.A new constitution has been recommended by the marketing committee chaired by Timothy Boyce, while the rules review committee, headed by attorney-at-law Vere Brathwaite, has submitted a report which is suggesting wholesale changes such as:• the reduction in the number of board members from 14 to nine;• a new process for the selection of a chairman of the board;• a new process for the conduct of elections for membership to the board• employment of a secretary and a treasurer by the association;• introduction of an internal audit committee and a corporate governance committee as standing committees of the board;• the introduction of new categories of membership of the association;• the consequences of non-payment of membership subscriptions;• clarification of the nature of offences and applicable consequences; and• a new process for selection of representatives to the West Indies Cricket Board.“The committee sought to examine the current rules in a comprehensive manner and intends that the board and the membership of the association will use the report as the basis for in-depth study of the existing regime, with a view to introducing greater clarity and certainty; to bringing the corporate management of the association in line with modern thinking and practice, and to creating a new paradigm shift in its corporate governance systems,” Brathwaite told members in the BCA’s annual report.In his report, Boyce, who like Brathwaite is a member of the existing board of management, is urging the association to adopt a new constitution as the first step in a better direction if the BCA’s operation is going to be relevant to current management models.Referring to the 2008 to 2011 marketing plan which he said remained relevant, members were told that the BCA had been significantly hampered by the use of a traditional management model of calendar-based decision-making where critical decisions were subject to ongoing delays and spasmodic implementation.“Hitherto 2010 the traditional model is still dominant in the BCA’s day to day activity and as long as it continues, the reports of the committees will forever be beautifully presented documents with only shelf life,” Boyce said.
