Asif Mahmud Shojib Bhuyain, Bangladesh’s sports advisor, feels that in order to keep corruption out of the system, directors of the Bangladesh Cricket Board should be compensated in some way if they are carrying out executive functions.
The BCB has yet to create a suitable organizational structure that would facilitate the board’s operations, and the directors, who do not receive salaries, are frequently observed performing executive duties for no pay at all, which many believe encourages corruption.
Asif expressed the same opinion in a recent conversation with Cricbuzz.
“Bulbul bhai (BCB president Aminul Islam) informed me that the work is nearing completion as far as board organogram is concerned and once there’s a proper organogram – showing who works under which stream after the CEO, giving employees a sense of motivation that if they work well, they will advance – and if that organogram is approved in the BCB AGM, I think this problem will be solved,” said Asif.
“In government terms, this is called a ‘block post’ – one post blocked for a long time. Once the organogram is in place, this issue will be resolved. The BCB is such a large organization with hundreds of crores of budget, yet it doesn’t even have a CFO or a GM. Filling these positions with more professional people will, I believe, solve most of BCB’s problems,” he said.
“The fact that directors currently have to engage at an executive level so extensively that will no longer be necessary. When a director works at an honourary post but spends a lot of time at the executive level, it structurally leads to corruption: ‘I am giving so much time, what is the outcome?’ Corruption has to be removed from the structure first,” he said.
“I’ve also suggested that since directors don’t receive a salary as directors, when they are engaged in executive-level work – like running committees or other tasks – they should at least be given some payment. Otherwise, they are structurally forced into corruption. When someone spends five to six hours daily, but no financial outcome is coming, corruption becomes structural. From that structural level arises bigger irregularities or corruption. Removing it from that structural level, and ensuring that anyone engaged at the executive level receives salary – that was my recommendation,” he said.
Asif maintained that it may also apply to Aminul Islam, the president of BCB, who quit a lucrative position at ICC to join BCB.
“Bulbul bhai (Aminul) now has to sell his land to live in Dhaka and leads a very miserable life. His family lives in Australia. Sometimes he stays in a hotel, sometimes at a relative’s house. There is a car allocated for the BCB president – he may use that, otherwise he might have had to take a rickshaw. How long can this situation go on,” he asked.
According to Asif, they have supported Aminul for the present term as president of the BCB because of his performance in his first term, which ended when he succeeded Faruque Ahmed.
“…From my side, my stance was that first, we should observe his work – see how things progress. Then, later on, we’ll decide whether our support from this side will remain or not. That’s also a practical approach. I mean, I don’t have any personal relationship with him, nor any political connection or vested interest that I must keep him or promote him as a relative. So, it’s entirely dependent on his work – how much he can do in three months, how his policies shape up. You can see his intentions through his actions. Based on that, we’ll decide later whether our support will continue or not,” he said.
“From our side, we’ve seen that our policies – those of the ministry and the government – he is aligned with them and is working accordingly. And the way he’s thinking for cricket, particularly about decentralization – this is something we had been talking about from the very beginning, but he’s the one who has actually taken the initiative to implement it. The previous board couldn’t really do it or even take the initiative in the last eight or nine months,” he said.
“If we look at some more details he has started working on the grounds and has taken the initiative to reorganize and restructure things overall and we felt that three months is not really good enough time and he is working, and it seems that if he gets more time, he’ll be able to do even better work – especially if he gets a full team.
Asif went on to say that Faruque Ahmed’s performance was the sole reason he was removed from the BCB president position, but that his experience was also taken into consideration when he was brought back to the board.
“No, I don’t think so (appointing him as BCB president was a mistake) because at that time our decision was what was needed for that period. We felt that after the BPL, in some areas BCB could not really function as a team. And in some places, the results were not coming as we had expected, considering the kind of input we provided – for example, in the BPL, the amount of input that came from the government, the same level of output did not come due to some silly mistakes like team selection and some other issues,” said Asif.
“But he (Faruque) was never banned from the cricket board. Of course, through the election process, he could always come back. Maybe he is not that suitable for the president’s role, but he can probably play another role very well because of his experience and expertise,” he said.
“And perhaps we don’t have too many options. If you really want to find people who can actually work, then you don’t have thousands of options as you have very limited ones,” he said adding that there was no ego involved as far as picking Faruque is concerned.
When a new government enters power after the general election, Asif continued, he doesn’t think the elected board will be replaced because it would have a significant negative influence on sports and impede its expansion.
While several organizers recently declared their intention to boycott all forms of cricket under Aminul’s leadership, many fear that a future administration may dissolve the current board to include their men to manage the show.
“When I took charge, I saw eight or nine board directors from the previous fascist regime who had been elected. We more or less know how they came. Back then, there used to be one candidate who decided who would become a board member,” he said.
“Those eight or nine directors from that time – we couldn’t do anything about them because they were elected. And according to the constitution, even amid turmoil, I had to follow it, had to follow ICC guidelines, and properly communicate with them. Any miscommunication or influence beyond our power could’ve led ICC to suspend BCB’s funding or impose sanctions, which would’ve been disastrous for our cricket,” he said adding that a mature political approach is essential for protecting the game’s independence.
“If someone thinks maturely, no matter what political government comes to power, they won’t put their hand here (in BCB). If political parties refrain from interfering, it’ll be their first step toward de-politicisation,” he said.
“They can show goodwill through this. But if they decide to remove the current board, it’ll be clear they’re trying to politicise it and that will harm sports,” he said.
Asif went on to say that even though sports organizations abandoned cricket completely after the election, calling it unlawful, he believes that cricket will eventually return.
“I don’t think the game will be stopped. I feel it will be played at the right time, and we’ll take all the necessary steps to ensure that. Many clubs made their announcements in the heat of the moment,” said Asif.
“We are working on reforms, inviting major government agencies like PWD, Railways, and City Corporations to take charge of clubs because they have the financial capacity and sports budgets. The idea is to utilize the full ecosystem,” he said.
“Many players have to quit early focusing on business or other careers. If good players are picked by government agencies, they can have jobs – like MS Dhoni used to play for Railways in India. This would help sustain their careers and strengthen our domestic structure,” he concluded.
