… Sport ministry welcomes partnership for community development through sports

MINISTER of Culture, Youth and Sport, Charles Ramson, took his outreach to communities in Region 5 over the weekend, as he once again met with residents to ascertain their needs and wants, especially with regard to the upgrading of several grounds in the region.
Minister Ramson, under whose ministry, $1.5B was allocated for sports and development in 2021, said he’s not reinventing the wheel, but only doing what his predecessors failed to do.
“You would see me in some new community in some new Region and that’s because there is a line item in my budget for ground enhancement,” Ramson stated on the sidelines in Region 5.

According to Ramson, “The interesting part about what I’m doing, that is different, is that these lines existed all along. No one, and especially the previous administration; no one saw fit that they should visit these grounds if they’re allocating resources, to know how they can best make decisions to allocate these resources.”
The country’s national federations and athletes were the biggest winners from the Government’s allocation of $1.5B for sports this year, according to the National Budget. Of the $1.5B, $915.5M was allocated for the transforming of community grounds into modern state-of-the-art sports facilities, commencing in Regions 2, 6 and 10. The sum will also be used for adding lights to community grounds, as well as the laying of synthetic tracks in Regions 6 and 10.
It was also noted that $618M will be used for the hosting of tournaments by the Ministry of Culture, Youth and Sport, and to support sports associations.
From this amount, $320M will be spent on the training of athletes and coaches, as part of the sports academy.

Last year, $803M was allocated for sports, but Ramson explained that three-quarters of the budget was already spent, adding that “even though we only had a fraction of the resources, we’re doing a lot more, because it’s not the amount of money that you have, it’s how you use the money, that is what really makes the difference.”
“What I’ve found also is that there is an untapped resource where people want to build and they want to build in this framework of partnership that was never really explored in such a meaningful way that we’re doing, being stretched across the entire cabinet and that is being led by the President Dr Irfaan Ali,” Ramson said.
Only recently, President Ali had told Chronicle Sport, that the Government of Guyana is keen on partnering with the country’s athletes who have business aspirations.
The Head-of-State also stated that under his administration, sports infrastructure will be increased and every Guyanese will benefit from the massive roll out of their developmental plans for the sector.