It has been a promising beginning for the new Minister of Sport, Charles Ramson Jnr.
Though only days on the job, the minister has begun his term like the proverbial house on fire.
He has met with sports associations and has declared his intention to look at the Draft Sports Policy of the previous APNU/AFU administration with the stated intention of seeing whether it is workable or not.
It has indeed been a bright beginning.
For too long sports has had ministers that seemed to pay only lip service to the sport.
In the previous 23 years of PPC/C rule there were attempts by Sports Minister Dr Frank Anthony to get the Sports Policy ball rolling with the help of Canadian Dr Colin Higgs, of the IDS (International Development through Sports).
Then when the government changed there was yet another attempt to get the Sports Policy up and running and the draft of a policy was sent out for input before the final policy was to be submitted but events such as the No Confidence Motion and subsequent General Elections put paid to any attempt to have the draft formally adopted.
So it’s back to square one with a new government and no Sports Policy.
The new Minister of Sports will surely have his work cut out for him.
Apart from the Sports Policy, he will also have to look at Guyana Cricket Board (GCB) imbroglio, a long running saga that neither the previous PPC/C government nor the APNU/AFC coalition seemed to have the stomach or resources to tackle despite the presence of a Cricket Administration Act that clearly spelt out the way forward. Then there are the sports associations or federations. While there a few associations/federations that that espouse good governance there are others whose leadership are simply a law unto themselves and who revel in the autonomy of their constitution and in the fact that they are answerable to no one or at least only to their governing bodies.
So while it is all well and good to meet with these associations/federations, the proof of the pudding for the new minister will come when it is time to eat.
The minister did recognize as such when he told the Guyana Football Federation (GFF) that he was not prepared to dance alone, or as the saying goes, it takes two to tango.
For the sports landscape in Guyana to be transformed from what it is to what Ramson and company would like it to be will involve hard work but more importantly accountability.
Sports associations/federations in Guyana fall short on good governance principles simply because they are accountable to no one.
For example, there are some sports associations that do not have a selection policy nor a selection committee.
Then there are those associations that do have a selection committee yet the president has to ratify the selections.
So going forward the minister might find it necessary to have the National Sports Commission adopt an oversight role in the workings of the various sports associations to ensure that those associations/ federations are responsible and transparent especially when it comes to finances, elections of office bearers and as was said before team selections.
