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Minister Ramson Jnr dissatisfied with Sports Policy
Should be completed by next year…
By Sean Devers
In June, 2017, as part of Government’s plan to complete a National Sports Policy to ensure that sports developed positively, the first in a series of consultations with Federation and Associations was conducted at the Cliff Anderson Sports Hall.
Sports Minister Charles Ramson Jnr
Melissa Dow-Richardson, Assistant Director of Sport, was the lead coordinator on the project and had said that the aim of the consultations was to focus on the fundamental principles of sports in addition to examining critical policy issues in sports.
Other areas of focus of the public consultation were: governance, accountability, on ensuring a safe and secure environment, discrimination, harassment and athlete development.
Also addressed then were subjects such as sports administration, coaching and training, sports financing, tourism and intellectual property rights.
With regards to the media, specific focus was on their roles and responsibilities in addition to its rights.
It has been close to six years and the Sports Policy is still a draft document.
Speaking on the ‘Sean Devers Sports Watch’ on Kaieteur Radio last Tuesday Evening, the Honourable Minister of Culture, Youth & Sport, Charles Ramson, provided an update on the National Sports Policy.
Charles Ramson Jr bowls in practice at GNIC.
“The sports policy is still in its draft stage we did not advance too much work on the Sports Policy other than we had a review of where it was and try to getting to the bottom, what direction it was taking and what shape it was taking.
I was dissatisfied with the direction it was going. So I said we have a number of things we are working on which is still a priority for us and for that to remain a priority it has to be included in the Sports Policy. We have started doing the Sports Academy and that has to feature in the Sports Policy,” informed Minister Ramson, who along with Director of Sport and Chairman of National Sports Commission (NSC), have been traveling to several Communities to see for themselves what is needed for sports development there.
According to the young and proactive Minister, the Sports Policy guides what the NSC does.
“We have started doing the Sports Academy and that has to feature firmly in the sports Policy. It would not have made sense that if we are rolling out the Sports Academy now and don’t include that in your first Sports Policy.
We are going to recommence working on the Sports Policy once we see the Sports Academy is on a consistent sustainable basis of continuation,” added Ramson who gained a distinction in Oil and Gas from the University of Aberdeen in 2017.
When asked when the Sports Policy will be completed, Minister Ramson said by next year.
“I would say probably by next year. It would not be a target for us for this year. When we would have had enough assessment of how the Sports Academy is going and what are the successes of the Sports Academy so that we can include firmly things that has to be kept in and it won’t change Willy Nilly,” concluded Ramson who is one of only two Guyanese Sports Ministers to have played First Division cricket; the other being the late Roy Fredericks, who played 58 Tests for West Indies.
Fredricks, who died of cancer on September 5, 2000, aged 57, became the only sitting Member of Parliament in the World to score a First-Class double Century when he scored 217 against Jamaica at Bourda in 1983, while serving as Guyana’s Minister of Sports.
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