THE APNU+AFC Government on Wednesday unveiled the new Cabinet and its Ministers who will serve under President David Granger but noticeably missing is the Ministry of Culture, Youth and Sport, which now falls under the Ministry of Education, headed by Dr Rupert Roopnarine. Guyanese from all walks, took mainly to social media, especially Facebook, to address what they felt was a bad move to not give Sport its own ministry like it had under the PPP/C government that saw Dr Frank Anthony at the helm.
Nonetheless, Dr Roopnarine in an exclusive interview with Chronicle Sport yesterday said that under the new system set by President Granger, Sports would be in a better place and athletes will benefit more than they did under the former administration.
Dr Roopnarine pointed to the role sports plays in the education system; something he says was neglected for far too long and with all the ministries being entwined into one, Guyana could see more student athletes.
In Barbados and St Kitts, there’s the Ministry of Education, Youth Affairs and Sports, while in Jamaica which happens to be the Caribbean’s most successful nation in sports, places it under the Office of the Prime Minister.
The Education Minister explained that there will be a Department of Sport in the Ministry which he says should be fully functional by the end of the next week.
“We really don’t have much time to waste because there’s much to be done. We will have these departments set up which will be responsible for sport, equipped with the right set of people; people who have expertise in their respective disciplines and they actually run that part of the Ministry and come up with the plans and so on for it,” Dr Roopnarine said.
Dr Roopnarine’s disclosure brings into question the future of the National Sports Commission (NSC). On December 3, 1993, the National Sports Commission Act was passed in Parliament and the current Board members include Conrad Plummer in the chairman’s seat and the Ex-Officio member is the Director of Sport, Neil Kumar.
The other members of the Board are: Vidushi Persaud, Peter Green, Alicia Fortune, Sean Richmond, Peter Abdool, Frank De Abreu, Deputy Permanent Secretary Steve Ninvalle, Hector Edwards, Pradeep Balram and Cheryl Thompson and will serve until 2016.
Asked what will now happen to the NSC, Dr Roopnarine said, “Right now, we’re going through the phase of checks and balances and to see if there’s a need for it based on the new structure in place for sports or if we can keep it around.”
Chronicle Sport had reported on numerous irregularities at the NSC and when asked to comment on such Dr Roopnarine only noted, “I really don’t want to comment on that right now. We’re still going in our transition period and we have people looking into everything at the NSC. But our focus first and foremost would be to make sure that everyone is on the same level and for us to get off the ground.”
“I see sports going places. I see the athletes benefiting directly and more student athletes coming through the system. We would also see Sports returning to the education system, playing a more prominent role,” Dr Roopnarine said.

By Rawle Toney