Favourites prosper under ad hoc PCB setup

[Guy1]

The ad hoc Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) has blatantly ignored merit and transparency in promotions and appointments making the organization top-heavy by rewarding favourites. As a result the monthly wage bill has become five times more than it was under the previous management.

When Shaharyar M Khan took over as chairman, the PCB had five general managers and a director, but today there are as many as nine general managers, one senior general manager, two directors and a consultant with the director’s status, all employed on hefty monthly salaries and perks.

Besides, there are dozens of managers doing hardly any justice to their jobs.

On top of it all, there is an army of foreign experts headed by the “high-profile” coach Bob Woolmer and his handpicked South African and Australian coaches who cost the board millions of rupees in precious foreign exchange.

Five of the staffers, who previously served as managers - Mushtaq Ahmed, Asad Mustafa, Subhan Ahmed, Naveed Iqbal Cheema and Javed Akhtar Khan Manj - were promoted to the rank of general managers by the present chairman.

The others working with the status of general managers are Col Naushad Ali, Nasimul Ghani, Col Mohammad Pervez and Asad Siddiqui, an Internal Auditor with the rank of general manager.

All of them enjoy mouth-watering perks and privileges and among them all director Cricket Operations Saleem Altaf really appears to have hit the jackpot. He enjoyed four months’ “paid holidays” touring India and the West Indies as manager.

Saleem, who joined the board shortly before the Indian tour in March-April, has barely spent time in office. Soon after the West Indies tour, Saleem flew to England to attend ICC meeting along with PCB chief who seems to love globe-trotting under every possible pretext. PCB chief’s latest “holiday” has lasted nearly two months.

Another person who is having a great time is marketing man Zahid Bashir whose services were terminated by Shaharyar only to be re-employed by a court order. He is getting salary and other benefits sitting idle at his home.

Interestingly Subhan is also a general manager marketing of the board.

Zakir Khan, on the other hand, has been elevated to the post of senior general manager Cricket Operations although there is no provision for such a post.

There is also a director of Board Operations – Abbas Zaidi - a former colleague of Shaharyar and draws a cool Rs180,000 each month plus other perks such as fully maintained car, petrol, mobile phone and entertainment allowance.

Initially hired as a consultant only for last year’s home series against India, without any proper procedure, Zaidi became a regular employee. His position was never advertised. The PCB chief created a new post to accommodate his ex-foreign office colleague.

Consultant Mr Riaz Mahmood, reportedly a friend of PCB chief and another expensive choice, was also brought in much the same manner as Zaidi. He has the status of a director receiving Rs7,000 per hour plus other perks.

Recently Riaz Mahmood went to London along with Subhan looking for prospective sponsors for England’s tour to Pakistan scheduled for October-December 2005.

Not to be satisfied with the “unsuccessful” trip of England the duo flew to Dubai in another futile exercise to hook a sponsor there. Again they returned empty-handed costing PCB huge sums of money on the two “joy-rides”.

Ironically Shaharyar, Zaidi, Riaz Mahmood, Saleem Altaf, Col Naushad, Nasimul Ghani, Col Pervez, Naveed Iqbal Cheema and Javed Akhtar Khan Manj are all retired personnel having attained superannuation age at their respective departments.

The PCB literally has money to throw away and there is no accountability whatsoever within the organisation.

Senator Enver Baig had accused Shaharyar of not observing “transparency, financial probity and credibility” in the conduct of most of the PCB affairs.

[Guy1]

PCB rejoinder

Mr Siddiqui’s assertion about the PCB chairman “rewarding favourites” is belied by the fact that all five of the promoted staffers mentioned in his article were appointed by previous administrations (incidentally without “due process”). Their promotions were made after a LUMS report had recommended upgrading certain posts and after assessing the dedicated work output of the five officers. Some of the officers inherited by the current board have not been retained while others remain in their posts at their previous level. For the first time in the PCB’s history, an annual confidential report system has been introduced to ensure fairness and transparency in promotions.

Except for the period when consultants were hired before the India tour (for which PCB had 12 days’ notice), no new appointments have been made without “due process”, i.e., advertising the post, short-listing applications and interviews by an independent panel before appointment. Mr Siddiqui has got his facts wrong as Riaz Mahmood, Abbas Zaidi, Salim Altaf, Asad Siddiqui and all senior appointees went through this process, along with other short-listed candidates, before appointment.

As regards salaries and emoluments, LUMS recommended that PCB should perform its functions as a corporate body and its officers be paid according to market rates. The ad-hoc committee endorsed this recommendation. The new pay scales were vetted and approved by the ad-hoc committee and cannot remotely be regarded as largesse distributed to the chairman’s favourites. The expenditure on establishment charges has doubled over the past two years but not five-fold as stated in the article. This expenditure includes, for the first time, increased financing of central contracts, appointment of eight regional development offices and awards bonuses approved at the highest level after the team’s success in India.

On the issue of ‘astronomical’ fees for Bob Woolmer and his ‘army’ of professional experts, the facts are that Bob Woolmer’s emoluments are roughly the same as Javed Miandad’s. They are approximately at level with all other foreign coaches and substantially less than Greg Chappell’s salary paid by the Indian board. Incidentally, Woolmer and his experts are entitled to five-star accommodation but have opted for the accommodation of the National Academy. There are no ‘astronomical’ finances involved and every major cricket board carries a coach, physio and a trainer with its national team. Australia currently has eight such experts in its team. As regards Mr. Zahid Bashir, he has a court case against the PCB but is not being paid a salary.

With regard to joy-rides, managing the Pakistan team on two arduous tours and attending ACC and ICC conferences can hardly be described as ‘joy rides’. I attend ICC and ACC’s senior executive meetings while the chairman is a member of the executive board that meets three or four times a year. The visits of PCB officials to London and Dubai were for negotiations with potential sponsors. They did not return ‘empty handed’ and there is a strong likelihood that their efforts will bear fruit in the future.

Every senior appointment and contract is now made with full transparency and up to-date audit reports placed on our website for public accountability.

SALIM ALTAF
Director (Cricket Operations) PCB
Lahore