Recently Minister of Culture, Youth and Sport, Dr. Frank Anthony gave two separate interviews to reporters from two of the four daily newspapers.
Two things stood out.
The first was the minister’s statement about the national sports policy.
This is what was reported:” The minister reported that the document is still in its initial stages (draft) and it is hoped that by the end of the first quarter of 2009, it would be finalized.”
Whether the minister is aware of it or not this statement is an indictment against the PPP/C administration.
How many years, one should ask, does it take to put in place a national sports policy?
Certainly not 16 maybe not even one year. A competent person can probably prepare a draft of a sports policy in about a week. It can be refined and be ready to be submitted to parliament in less than a month.
The PPP/C has taken all of 16 years (the amount of time they have been in power after they were ushered into office through democratic elections in 1992) and to date they are yet to put in place a sports policy for the people of Guyana.
It is nothing short of a travesty.
This is what Dr. Anthony said:”A number of stakeholders have worked on the document and it is a combined effort. I can say at this point, I’m a little more pleased with the document that we have now.
“Among the areas the policy will cater for are getting sports back in the curriculum of schools; looking at sports from the different levels from the nursery; development of athletes on a long term basis; accreditation of coaches, umpires, referees, administrators and anti-doping.”
All of the above is laudable (and familiar) but given the nature of the way things are done in Guyana, and cognizant of previous statements about the National Sports Policy, one is not even sure that any of the above will be attempted in the near future.
What the minister did not state and which is even more important are the following objectives of a national sports policy.
1. The development of elite sports athletes
2. To foster the development of healthy lifestyles
3. To integrate sports into our national culture by encouraging lifelong participation
4. To create career opportunities
5. To maximize the economic potential of sports
6. To guide the development of facilities and sporting infrastructure of consonant with the needs and resources of the country
7. To influence the formulation of strategies and programmes to facilitate the development and management of sports. The second statement by the minister which was that the national sports associations “were neglecting to liaise with his ministry,” should certainly not surprise the minister.
Without a proper sports policy in place which would define the relationship between the national federations/associations and the Ministry of Culture, Youth and Sport among other things, one might be tempted to ask the reasons why those federations/associations should liaise with an organization that is unhelpful to them.
Most national teams leaving these shores get absolutely no funding from the National Sports Commission (NSC).
This has given rise to a situation where only teams or athletes who can afford it can attend regional meets.
Most times, the brunt of paying for the athletes especially is the athletes are junior or juvenile athletes, rests with parents who make tremendous sacrifices just to ensure that the talent of their sons and daughters are not left to “blush unseen.”
What is distressing is to see young athletes walking the streets, begging for funding in order to attend regional meetings.
It makes one wonder what exactly is done with the millions allocated annually for sport in the national budget.
In a recent interview with this newspaper, Guyana’s world-ranked squash player Nicolette Fernandes pointed to financial support from the government as reasons why the sport of squash was growing in some countries.
And, in an article in the Kaieteur News yesterday former professional boxer Michael Benjamin pointed out that the Trinidad and Tobago sport ministry had given some TT$500,000 in support of a world title boxing card held in the twin-island republic recently.
Compare that to the fact that although we are regarded as the undisputed champions of the Caribbean in amateur boxing, many times our national teams are unable to attend the regional championships because of a lack of funding.
Minister Anthony might have been frank (pardon the pun) in his assessment of the state of sport in Guyana. But he is the captain of the ship and as they say, “the buck stops with him.”
