Reshaping the sporting scenario in SVG
The new Minister of Tourism, Youth and Sport, despite having been involved in Track and Field Athletics, does not really have enough of a sports background to be in a position, without appropriate advice, to be in a position to make promises to the sports fraternity of St Vincent and the Grenadines.
The impressive notes on sports development that have decorated the ULPs manifestos of 1998, 2001 and again in 2005, do little more than serve the immediate political interest of garnering votes at the general elections. That done, the business of getting the work done ought to take precedence.
Work to do
The Minister of Sport is new to politics and may do well to keep his nose clean. He may do well to avoid the political pitfalls of other politicians in the state and should certainly refrain from making promises that he cannot independently deliver to the masses or to the sporting fraternity of St Vincent and the Grenadines.
This columnist therefore seeks to address here some of the pressing matters that the Minister of Sports must immediately confront in St Vincent and the Grenadines if he is to serve this country adequately in the designated portfolio of Sports.
1. The Minister of Tourism, Youth and Sports needs to show the sportspeople of this country that he has the best interest of sports and the persons involved in all aspects of the various disciplines at heart.
He has to show that while Sports has been placed as the last of his portfolios, as has always been the case in this country since Independence, he does not intend for it to be the least to gain his attention and to which his energies are directed.
He has to convince us all that he has no intention of merely paying lip service to sport. Promises do not always translate into reality simply because they have been pronounced by a Minister of Government. Sportspeople have long since grown tired of this political strategy and it has outserved its usefulness.