The centrality of sports in Vincentian society
In all of St Vincent and the Grenadines it may well prove difficult to find a single individual who has used the term, centrality, more than Mike Browne, now Minister Browne.
Of course, Browne appears to have emerged out of a particular political philosophical/ideological background that saw most things from the perspective of their centrality to the ultimate goal.
When Browne served as the Minister of Education, Youth and Sport, he used every public sports forum to pontificate on the centrality of sports to his governments development strategy and the overall well being of Vincentians.
Brownes tenure as Minister responsible for sport was relatively short-lived and was perhaps characterized by little or no movement in respect of realizing the centrality of sport to this nations development as so often proffered. The same can be said of Brownes successor as Minister responsible for sports, Clayton Burgin.
An analysis of the ULP governments performance in respect of the development of sports in St Vincent and the Grenadines and of its role in the broader national development process would reveal the same relatively putrid situation that it claims to have inherited from the previous regime and this, regardless of the useless manifesto promises banged to the nation from the pulpits of the political campaign at election time, on the centrality of sports.
Diplomatic initiatives
The old people are prone to saying that in the land of the blind the one-eyed man is king.
The current political administration, in an attempt to show its commitment to sports, has held high its most gracious award of four diplomatic passports to Vincentian athletes Pamenos Ballantyne, Skiddy Francis-Crick, Cameron Cuffy and Nixon MacLean.
No one can project the criteria used to determine the recipients of this singular honour to the persons named, with any measure of justification beyond the narrow confines of political expediency.
The most known Vincentian athlete at the time of the issuing of the passports was in fact Adonal Foyle, this nations first NBA star. He was involved in a sporting activity that receives extensive television coverage and internet coverage globally.