Giving democracy the finger

At least Zimbabwe Cricket (ZC) have finally abandoned any pretence at being a representative, democratic institution. Like the regime it functions under, it has eschewed all but the charade of being accountable, and those running it have this week shown two fingers to the dwindling band inside the country who still care.

The news that the board's Annual General Meeting takes place this weekend only broke when Peter Chingoka's predecessor as chairman, Dave Ellman Brown, called the ZC offices and found out, during the course of a conversation, that he was no longer a life president. It then emerged that all such life appointees - honorary posts awarded for a lifetime of contributions to the game - had been stripped of their positions without even being notified.

On the face of it, this is a callous and cowardly move. It also is another blow to what remains of the tarnished reputation of Chingoka. As chairman this decision has to rest with him, yet even though he knows all of these appointees closely and has worked with them for years, he couldn't bring himself to face them and tell them in person why they had been treated so appallingly.

The real reason for the decision is clear when seen in connection with the AGM. It has traditionally been the one public forum where the board can be held to account, where officers can be questioned and where the finances can be scrutinised. In recent years it has been a fairly harrowing experience for the executive. But this year ZC has ruled that only delegates from the newly created provinces can attend. Strictly speaking, under the rules any presidents or vice presidents can also demand to be present. ZC has removed that potential embarrassment by taking them out of the equation.

So the AGM will be a farce. Only delegates from provinces created by the ZC board in 2006 will be present; and those appointed to run the regional boards were hand-picked acolytes. All dissenters and those whose faces did not fit were cleansed then. It was a cynical ploy to appease the international community and pretend there was a vibrant and democratic domestic set-up. There is as much chance of a delegate questioning the ZC executive on Saturday as there is of a Zanu PF conference asking Robert Mugabe to justify his economic policy.

What ZC fears most is that its accounts will be scrutinised internally. Already the ICC-appointed accountants have been sniffing round the books. In June, Malcolm Speed said that it was "clear that the accounts of ZC have been deliberately falsified to mask various illegal transactions". So no accounts have been circulated and it seems only the hand-picked will be privy to them at the AGM. Even so, what they get might not matter. As Speed said of previous offerings: "It may not be possible to rely on the authenticity of its balance sheet."

What this latest contemptuous move suggests is that ZC believes it has weathered the international storm and that it no longer needs to maintain the veneer of accountability. Chingoka is shrewd enough to know that other boards, and as a result the ICC, don't really care what happens. It's all about votes and behind-the-scenes deals. If Zimbabwe supports the right people when it matters, nobody will rock the boat.

Cricket limps on in the country, and despite Speed's reservations, ZC received US$11 million from the ICC in the last year and has nobody to account to about how that money is spent. It's a criminal reflection of the priorities of the modern game.