The Ministry of Culture, Youth and Sport has released a statement warning associations/federations to desist from any form of disenfranchisement and exploitation of local sportsmen and women.
In keeping with its mandate to protect local sportsmen and women from any form of exploitation, the statement makes it clear that athletes should not be punished for competing.
The full statement is below….
Partnership with Associations/Federations premised on advancing interest of Guyanese Sportsmen/Sportswomen
Consequent upon the previous statement by the Ministry of Culture, Youth and Sport, where the ministry advised that approval and/or no objection for the hosting/organising of sports events, while inherently beneficial, was not strictly required by the respective sports associations/federations, sportsmen and sportswomen have confidentially expressed their discontent and worry with the way the respective sports associations/federations have sought to discharge their responsibilities in this regard.
Sportsmen and sportswomen have confidentially expressed to the ministry that it had become a common practice that if they were interested in participating in or chose to participate in an organised sports event which did not receive the approval/no objection from the respective sports associations/federations, then they were threatened with or risked being disallowed from participating in any organised sports event by the association/federation, deliberately not selected by the association/federation, and/or disciplined by the association/federation.
This is not a practice that can continue in the Republic of Guyana. The Ministry of Culture, Youth and Sport on behalf of the Government of Guyana has ultimate responsibility to, among other things, advance sports in Guyana and the interests of Guyanese sportsmen/sportswomen.
Mindful of the international organisation of sport and the importance of improving Guyana’s standing on the international sports stage, the ministry has embarked upon a direction to establish a genuine partnership with the sports associations/federations. That partnership is, however, fundamentally premised on the appreciation of a shared objective to advance sports in Guyana and the interests of Guyanese sportsmen/sportswomen.
Sports associations/federations will continue to benefit from that partnership with the Ministry of Culture, Youth and Sport once that fundamental objective remains paramount. The threat to exclude, the disciplining of sportsmen/sportswomen, and/or the exclusion of sportsmen/sportswomen for their inclination to participate in or the participation in an organised sports event which did not receive the approval/no objection from the respective sports association/federation could never advance that fundamental objective.
It is the ministry’s mandate to protect Guyanese sportsmen/sportswomen from exploitation and advance their interests and the Ministry takes its mandate seriously.
