Media release from Nabeel Ahmed campaign
Finally, USACA has come up with the small list of compliant leagues; 15 out of 41. 12 leagues were initially considered eligible, a second tier of 12 leagues was recommended by Robert Chance as having met most of the criteria, giving USACA the option of determining which, if any, of these 12 should be allowed to vote. A third tier of 17 leagues were considered completely ineligible. Of the 12 leagues listed in the second tier, USACA selected 3 leagues which were added to the list of eligible leagues, bringing the final list to 15.
Nabeel Ahmed, a USACA presidential candidate. Photo by Shiek Mohamed
With the exception of the board members present, no one else knows what criteria were used in making the decision to include these 3 leagues. I, as a concerned cricket fan and a presidential candidate, was hopeful that a greater number of leagues would have met the eligibility requirements, but, as USACA noted in a previous release, its final decision is binding. The process, flawed as it might be, has been completed, and now it’s time to get involved in the process so that some of these perceived injustices can be addressed.
We urge the eligible leagues to participate in the electoral process and vote for the individuals best suited to move USACA forward during these turbulent times. USA cricket needs to start moving in a different direction, and this can only be accomplished by electing capable leaders who have the complete trust and confidence of all the leagues.
The number of leagues which are declared compliant is not very encouraging, and I believe this exercise should have been completed a few years ago, but, be that as it may, the compliance report was completed by a reputable legal firm, and I am convinced that Attorney Chance will have the back-up documents to support the reported results. As president, I will be requesting those documents so that we can determine which items were missing from the disenfranchised leagues. We will reserve judgment on who was responsible was the poor execution of this process, and any subsequent issues uncovered in these results will be transparent.
There might be a tendency by some to lay the blame at the feet of the leagues, but in most cases, this would be rather unfair, since most of these leagues had never gone through this type of process before. Given the limited time to produce documents, that in some cases might have never existed, in my opinion, was patently unfair. The one criterion, from which ineligible leagues could not escaped blame, would be in the area of payment of dues, and as noted in the compliance report, this category was missing in some cases.
Now, after all the constant delays, the elections are called for April 14th. We all recognize this is an exercise that should have taken place over a year ago, but that’s all in the past. Let’s move forward, participate in the election process, and move USACA in a new direction.
I am hoping that the election process will be fair and transparent. From the outset, I have been very vocal in saying that USA cricket issues are our in-house problems, and needed to be fixed internally. The ICC has echoed these same sentiments.
Even with the myriad of issues facing USACA at this time, I continue to support the LLC group, and I am discouraging the threats of any law suits that risk damaging the brand that the LLC group is trying to establish here in the USA. If such a suit goes forward, USA cricket will be the primary loser. I am still recommending that all the cricket stake holders of USACA should meet to choose a unanimous leader, request a debate between the candidates so that they can make an objective and well-informed decision on election day.
In the absence of an unlikely debate, I implore all the voters (leagues) to carefully analyze every candidate before making a choice. The candidate of your choice should be the one who you think can best serve the interest of USA cricket without any biases or favoritism. So, No more delays, no more drama. Let us get on with the election process.