St Vincent Govt Defiant Against CWI’s Threats
The St. Vincent Emancipation Cricket Festival will go ahead as planned, with government officials adamantly defending the event’s integrity and significance.
Prime Minister Ralph Gonsalves told St Vincent Times on Thursday as to what he perceives as potential undermining tactics by CWI. “There are elements in CWI that are trying to undermine this festival,” Gonsalves declared, emphasizing the event’s cultural importance beyond mere cricket.
On July 16, a letter purportedly from Caribbean Premier League (CPL) CEO Pete Russell surfaced, suggesting procedural approval was necessary. However, Prime Minister Gonsalves dismissed the communication’s significance, stating it was “neither here nor there.”
“There are elements in CWI that are trying to undermine this festival; the people who they have rights to are CPL. It is not a tournament; it is a festival, but if CWI wants to find itself on the wrong side of history, they can go ahead because what they are trying to do is frighten the players; they can’t shake this government.”
“CWI will have legal problems if they seek to do anything formally. They will try to call individual players and frighten them. First of all, if it’s knowledge they want of it, they have it; it’s public knowledge. They have signed a number of rights to CPL. However, it is to be doubted if that is relevant to what we are doing.”
On Thursday morning Minister of Tourism Carlos James confirmed to the publication that the festival will proceed as planned from July 31st to August 4th at the Arnos Vale cricket grounds.
