Shadow Minister of Culture, Youth and Sport, Jermaine Figueira has lambasted the substantive minister, Charles Ramson Jr., on his failure to appoint a Director of Sport during the 2020 Budget debate on Thursday.
“As minister for more than 40 plus days, he is yet to appoint a Director of Youth, a Director of Sport and members of the National Sports Commission,” said Figueira.
He questioned, “What is taking you so long to do this simple task?” and asserted, “If you have to seek permission then do so, we have waited long enough.”
During an interface with journalists early last month, Ramson Jr., said the appointment of the Director of Sport will be made in the coming weeks while expressing that this was all he had to say on the topic at the time. Five weeks have passed since that announcement but nothing has been said on the topic since.
It was reported that Kashif Muhammad was tipped to be the frontrunner for the position and he has been accompanying Ramson Jr., on almost all of his outreach ventures but Ramson Jr., did not confirm or deny this.
Meanwhile, Figueira was also critical of the approach by Ramson Jr., on the direction in which sports will need to look into as it relates to COVID-19. “To date Mr. Speaker, the minister with responsibility for sports cannot announce a protocol for any sports disciplines in Guyana,” Figueira stated.
Nevertheless, Figueira said that he was happy that the government saw it fit to continue the construction of three sporting facilities across the country.
