Dear Editor,
Your Saturday, May 30, 2009 edition carried a letter captioned ‘Scorecard on sport and culture’ over the name Sasenarine Singh.
This correspondence attracted the ministry’s attention for its attempted assessment of the ministry’s output since 2006, as well as its clever criticisms, however ill founded.
The Minister and executive management of the ministry do hope that, as he wrote, Mr Singh really wished to do some “soul-searching” as he sought to “keep reminding government leaders of their contract with the people,” for much of the attempted ‘scorecard’ or ‘report card’ seemed to indict the leadership of the ministry and its sterling accomplishments so far. As will be indicated here, some of those achievements under Minister Dr Frank Anthony’s stewardship, were unprecedented!
Two main points need to be made up front: (i) It is neither fair nor just to merely enumerate a party manifesto’s listing of the plans and projects in order to compare execution and delivery vis-à-vis a comprehensive Culture, Youth and Sport National Development Programme. There is bound to be adjustments, re-thinking and some re-prioritization as any period or term proceeds. (ii) Arising out of the latter, some projects listed in any party manifesto will attract postponements, re-scheduling or cancellations. For example, where the three multi-purpose sports complexes for the three counties are concerned, a decision was made to put these on hold. Reason? The current global economic circumstances and their impact on our own economy determined that we re-prioritize how we would utilize the Indian assistance. So for now, the complexes have had to give way to agriculture.
This is not to say that Sport, Culture and Youth have been relegated in any manner on this government’s national calendar. Many projects, not even listed in any PPP manifesto, have been receiving and are scheduled to receive maximum attention. These include the; the refurbishment of all facilities at the Georgetown National Park; similar works at the National Gymnasium and Cliff Anderson Sports Hall; the refurbishment and re-introduction of a national lawn tennis court; the opening of Guyana’s first public squash court; work (which has already recommenced) on the Olympic-size swimming pool, complete with an end for Olympic-related diving and a mound to accommodate about 1000 spectators; and numerous donations of assistance to responsible, audited clubs and teams travelling overseas to represent Guyana.
This is but a sample of the work currently and routinely being executed as just one aspect of the ministry’s mandate. In many ways, the ministry’s current programme of work exceeds what is listed in any record. Mr Singh himself managed to mention others completed or being executed.
He should have also saluted the ministry for the unprecedented completion of Guyana’s first National Stadium, the successful hosting and execution of our leg of the 2007 World Cup; the hosting of the 2008 Carifesta X at short notice – less than a year when other host countries needed two or three years; the hosting of several international football encounters and our readiness to host the World Cup 20/20 matches next year. Does Mr Singh know that the ministry spends $100M every year as a ‘Sports Development Fund’?
As we will not engage Mr Singh on an item-by-item basis, we at the ministry finally reassure him that we are indeed aware that Sport and Culture can wean our youth away from all “that is eating away at our social fabric.” For such enterprises as velodromes, synthetic tracks and sports tourism, the Ministry of Culture, Youth and Sport stands ready to work with other ministries, groups and individuals, in Guyana or overseas, to make these plans a reality. Mr Singh’s practical input will be welcome.
The ministry feels that Minister Anthony’s record since 2006 can bear favourable scrutiny when compared with any of his predecessors from any previous administration. The record is there and is public.
Yours faithfully,
Neil Kumar
