- President Jagdeo intervenes
By Rawle Toney
Following a meeting between president of the Guyana Teachers Union (GTU) Colwyn King and His Excellency President Bharat Jagdeo, the 48th annual national schools’ track and field, cycling and swimming championship will go ahead as planned.
His Excellency President Bharat Jagdeo
President GTU Colwyn King
The event which is scheduled to be held in Linden from November 17-21 at the Mackenzie Sports Club ground was in a limbo after the GTU, who is responsible for organizing the event, said that they going to pull the plug on the championship because of insufficient funding.
According to the GTU at a press conference held Thursday last, they had budgeted for $10,133,206 and only received $2.8 million from the Ministry of Education which was given in the form of stationery supplies for administrative purposes.
King yesterday said that thanks to President Jagdeo, who pledged the difference they can now breathe a sigh of relief.
Meanwhile it was reported that the Mackenzie Sports Club has been through several changes to its facility to accommodate the 1600 plus athletes who are scheduled to use the venue on a daily basis.
According to King, the athletes’ stand has been done over along with the toilet facilities at the venue.
King said that some amount of work was also done on the ground itself and that everything was in order for the start of the championships.
The athletes from District Eight and Nine are expected to arrive in Linden over the weekend.
Am I in a twlight zone. Is this supposed to be some sort of goodwill by the government. These games have been played as long as I can remember and should be an assumed part of any budget.
It drives me nuts, this mentality in Guyana of “come see the big man in charge” to get the most everyday mundane tasks accomplished. This is either an ego driven part of our culture or a desire on the part of leaders to let others know “who’s in charge”.
This is the reason Guyana can’t move forward. What is not mentioned are the countless days of stress, the many unreturned messages to the Ministry of Education and the lengthy time associated with making a request them awaiting response from the president. WHAT A FREAKIN LOAD OF PRODUCTIVITY LOST
What is worst is that the GTU leader will view this as some kind of goodwill from the president…sigh…”PEOPLE GET THE GOVERNMENT THEY DESERVE”..truly…
PATHETIC BS
AS I HAD SAID IN MY PREVIOUS COMMENTS THIS IS THE USUAL PROCEDURE OFFICIALS OF THE GTUHAVE TO GO THROUGH BEFORE ANY TRACK AND FIELD EVENT GETS ON THE WAY. THE CHAAMPIONSHIPS ARE SLATED FOR LINDEN A PNC/R STRONG HOLD, WHATB DO YOU EXPECT TO HAPPEN. THOSE FOLKS IN LINDEN ARE ALSO FACING SOME PROBLEMS FROM THE ADMINISTRATION THERE ALSO.
I AM NOT SURE IF ANYONE CAN REMEMBER, AFTER THE PRESIDENT’S FIRST WENT INTO OFFICE HE WAS ASKED TO OPEN THE CHAMPIONSHIPS IN LINDEN, BUT HE WAS NOT WELCOME THERE BASED UPON THE REACTIONS OF THE SPECTATORS.
I WOULD LIKE TO WISH THE ATHLETES AND OFFICIALS OF THIS YEAR’S CHAMPIONSHI GOD’S RICHEST BLESSINGS AND MAY THE BEST TEAM WINS AS YOU ALL ACCEPT DECISIONS IN PROPER SPIRIT.