…Sport Minister praises newly appointed Director of Sport

MINISTER of Culture, Youth and Sport, Charles Ramson Jr, is optimistic of recently appointed Director of Sport, Steve Ninvalle, changing the landscape of sports in Guyana.
Ninvalle is now Guyana’s third Director of Sport following Neil Kumar and Christopher Jones, since the 1993 Sports Commission Act was assented to by former president Samuel Hinds, after it was passed in the sitting of the Sixth Parliament on December 3 that year.
“We’ve been doing a lot of projects since my appointment and we don’t want there to be any slowdown in that progression and there should be a smooth transition,” Minister Ramson said.
Ramson, who was at the time speaking to Chronicle Sport while on the visit to the National Gymnasium with Ninvalle and National Sports Commission (NSC) Chairman, Kashif Muhammad, explained that making the correct decision on who will be the country’s Director of Sports was one of the many reasons why the announcement was delayed.
“We were careful about who would’ve been the Director of Sports…Steve is also known in many other fraternities, including the media. But he also comes with a background at the Ministry,” the Minister noted.

Minister Ramson believes that with Ninvalle also serving as a former Deputy Permanent Secretary and Member of Parliament, it places him in a position of already knowing and understanding the role he has to play as Director of Sports. “Everyone knows the Deputy Permanent Secretary is pretty critical to the operations and management of any ministry, so he has that long history of management and public management and that institutional knowledge that he comes with.”
Ramson further stressed, “so, it’s somebody that we have a lot of confidence and we’re very optimistic and we know that sport is in a far better place now with the new sports commission and the Director of Sports.” Ramson said the Ministry of Culture, Youth and Sport will continue to support the NSC “and we will see that the projects and the overall policy of the Government is implemented, so that it meets the needs of young people, especially that are interested in sports and fulfilling a pathway that they have a career in sports too.”
“As the Minister rightfully said, this new commission will be carrying out the mandate of the Ministry and I would expect all hands will be on deck,” Ninvalle said.
Ninvalle, a former Journalist and current president of the Guyana Boxing Association, said the advancement of sports in Guyana “is a purely team effort and I must say that I feel more confident having the Minister that we have and a chairman like Kashif Muhammad. There’s a lot more work to be done and if we focus, we will be able to carry out the work that we have.”