Kevin O'Brien Chang

Sports is the toy section of life, a fun and exciting respite from the cares of daily life. But songs and laughter can only go on so long. You can run, but you can't hide from reality.

The murder of Pakistan coach Bob Woolmer has stunned cricket. It's a tragedy anyway it happened. But for the sake of this country's reputation, let's hope no Jamaican was involved. It goes to show though, that even the greatest game ever invented by man is still only a game.

Now I'm a big cricket fan and am glad the West Indies are hosting the sport's premier event. But we spent far more than we had to. And while our boys are so far going great guns on the pitch, off the field Cricket World Cup 2007 has not been living up to expectations.

Except for West Indies-Pakistan the stands have been mostly empty. The greedy organisers obviously overpriced the tickets and now apparently can't see the sense of say offering school children half price admission. Clearly they prefer all of the unsold nothings to a little of sold somethings. And imagine the stupidity of charging people $1,500 to enter a craft village, and then wondering why no one is coming!

Sure the opening ceremony and first match were great. But we tax-payers are not getting value for the money we were forced to spend on this thing. The promised hordes of cricket tourists sure haven't turned up.

I myself am still livid at being charged $1,000 to park at the National Stadium for the West Indies-Zimbabwe match after having paid only $500 for West Indies-Pakistan. It was the same ticket with the $500 crossed out and $1,000 written in pen. I heatedly protested but was told to pay or leave. It's not the money but the principle that angered, and this blatant extortion killed any goodwill I felt towards the CWC 2007 organisers.

My beef

My big beef is the two stadiums. How on Earth did a cash-strapped country manage to spend US$30 million fixing up one stadium and US$30 million building another when only one was needed? Way back in April 2004 before a cent was spent, I heard Kingsley Thomas adamantly assert that we should just build the Telawny Multi-purpose stadium and forget Sabina Park.

There are simply not enough hotel rooms in Kingston and only the North coast has the capacity to accommodate any significant number of tourists. Not to mention that as one of the world's murder capitals, Kingston is not exactly high on many foreigners' must-visit lists. If the capital had to host something, the opening could have been held at a refurbished National Stadium.

So here we are three years later having blown at least US $30 million - for there are rumours of massive unreported cost overruns a la Sandals Whitehouse - on a white elephant Sabina Park used maybe 15 days a year. Worse we don't even know who owns it!

According to the March 18 Observer, Finance Minister Dr. Omar Davies said a "special purpose vehicle" has been formed by the Jamaica Cricket Association and Kingston Cricket Club, the owners of Sabina Park, for the purpose of administering the J$2 billion government loan. Funds for repayment will supposedly come from the lease of the upscale boxes.

Utter nonsense

Which is utter nonsense. At most, Jamaica get two Tests and two one-day internationals per year. Even when Sabina held only 12,000 people it only ever sold out for ODIs. Last year on a sunny test match weekend with Brian Lara in full flow, it was half empty.

And Sabina has no other use except for daytime cricket. It has little parking nearby, is in an unsafe area, and has no lights. There is little chance it can generate even market interest rate costs of US $3 million per year in revenue. In short it's a gigantic waste of money. And that's before, according to Minister of State for Foreign Affairs Delano Franklyn, the US$2 million per month maintenance costs!

Either revamping Sabina or building Greenfield would have been fine. But doing both means J$2 billion has been flushed away. Some say we had to build Trelawny Multi-purpose Stadium because the available soft loan could only be used on such a facility. Obviously these folk can't distinguish between a grant, which is a gift, and a loan which has to be paid back.

Such massive waste in a rich country would be one thing. But whenever our Government is challenged about fighting crime with say proper DNA testing equipment and building more prisons for repeat offenders, it pleads a lack of resources. And let's not mention the rundown schools and under-equipped hospitals. Yet, somehow US$30 million was squandered on a completely unneeded sports facility. What an utter national disgrace.

Speaking of which, why has the government not given the Dutch government permission to investigate Trafigura's dealings in Jamaica? Ignoring such a request certainly makes people think you have something to hide. Caesar's wife must not only be faithful, she must be seen to be faithful.

Do we aspire to be an open, transparent and accountable modern democracy? Or are we content with behaving like just another corrupt third world banana republic?

How much were we taxpayers supposed to get from that Nigeria oil deal, and how much did we actually receive? How come Jamaica earned only US$170,000 over the last 18 months on its oil trading agreement with Trafigura and yet Trafigura could afford to donate US$585,000 to the PNP? What is an appropriate spread between the buying and selling price of oil? Is 12 cents a barrel really the going rate? The people want answers.

If the PNP believes Cricket World Cup fever is going to make voters forget about Trafigura, it really must think Jamaicans stupid. Sure we will obsess over the West Indies, as long as they keep doing well. But life must go on after cricket. And nobody with sense is buying the Government's story about Trafigura, mainly because not even the Prime Minister herself seems to understand what exactly took place.

A service agreement

According to the March 21, Observer, Prime Minister Portia Simpson Miller responded to questions by Opposition Leader Bruce Golding with: "Trafigura Beheer made a contribution to the People's National Party in September 2006. The contribution was paid into an account in the name of CCOC Association and was facilitated by a document signed by the donours and a representative of CCOC Association. The document was described as a service agreement, the subject of which was ostensibly a consultancy agreement, whereby CCOC undertook to do a study of the bauxite industry."

'But when asked by Opposition MP Karl Samuda whether the consultancy suggested in the agreement between CCOC and Trafigura was undertaken, the Prime Minister said: "My advice is that the money was a contribution to the People's National Party and so there was no consultancy".'

According to the article the PM also said she was advised by Senator Colin Campbell that he did not sign any documentation relative to Trafigura Beheer, that she had asked but was not able to obtain any copy of the agreement between CCOC and Trafigura, and was not able to ascertain the precise nature of the study referred to in the agreement, and the terms of payment to be made.

'And when Opposition MP Karl Samuda asked her whether it was appropriate that Campbell should remain in the Senate, the prime minister said, "that was within his own guilt".'

Frankly it all sounds as confusing as the Bob Woolmer death mystery. Maybe the Dutch government could enlighten Portia and the Jamaican people?

changkob@hotmail.com