What will they think of next?

Our parliamentarians have, in their infinite wisdom, decided to rearrange the schedule of the budget debate to accommodate, of all things, ICC Cricket World Cup fixtures. Why? Shouldn't the running of the country take precedence over a cricket tournament that's already cost us an arm, a leg, a kidney and a significant portion of our digestive tract? This announcement comes a mere week after Dr. Davies was bitching to Parliament about the revenue sharing agreements and ICC demands that the host nations were "forced" to comply with - agreements that one Prime Minister described as more intrusive than the IMF.

I suppose that anyone with half an ounce of common sense would wonder why nine Caribbean countries agreed to such horrible, unfair terms. They might also wonder why all these concerns and complaints are being brought to light only now, years after the documents were signed and when the tournament is almost over. I have two words for you. Blame game.

It seems that the revenue projections for host countries are falling faster than West Indian wickets. Originally estimated at US$500 million, the host countries will probably only see about US$80 million total which means that a lot of governments will have a lot of explaining to do to a lot of voters. Rather than admitting to a error of stupendous proportions, our governments are doing what they seem to do best - blaming everyone else. Blaming the fans for not turning out to support the tournament (never mind that ticket prices were, in many instances, more that a week's pay for minimum wage earners), blaming the Pakistani and Indian teams for dropping out in the first round and robbing the tournament of fans, and blaming the ICC for coercing us into signing agreements. But they aren't blaming the governments that were apparently more concerned with hosting the tournament than with changing the Host Venue Agreement.

The worst part about this whole fiasco is that the people who will be most affected by the negligence of our governments are not Prime Ministers or members of the Local Organizing Committees or members of our cricket team (and I use the words "cricket team" very loosely - they play more like a rounders team) but the minimum wage earners and the lower middle class who couldn't even afford to go the World Cup.