Dear Editor,
In its usual quest to score points and bring the government into disrepute, the political opposition is laying blame at the feet of the Dr. Irfaan Ali-led administration for the issues surrounding Guyana’s national athletics team which participated in the 50th CARIFTA Games.

Though the source of these issues is directly related to poor planning and incompetence on the part of the Athletics Association of Guyana (AAG), the opposition and members of its overseas-based lunatic fringe would have us believe that the government, with its god-like all-seeing and all-knowing powers, should’ve intervened beforehand in anticipation of the AAG “usual mess-up.”

Not an ounce of blame is being laid at the feet of the AAG. Of course, the usual suspects did not miss an opportunity to inject their poisonous narrative of race hate, so the incompetence of the Afro-dominated AAG was thrown aside and a story about the indo-PPP government having a dislike for any other sport aside from Cricket was the preferred one.

But rest assured that if the government, in an effort to avert the disaster that unfolded, had attempted to play a more meaningful role (aside from providing funds as it did), those very critics and their media surrogates would’ve been shouting “control” and “government takeover.”

The letters and editorials denouncing the government’s “attempt to take over” would’ve been voluminous as is the case with the Georgetown Mayor and City Council.
So, I guess the government is damned if it does and damned if it doesn’t.

Guyanese should ignore the usual suspects trying to score political points off of a non-political issue and what in my view is a demonstration of incompetence by the Athletics Association of Guyana.

Yours sincerely,
Alvin Hamilton