“It’s more than just a gyaff session” – Ramson on sport consultations

As talks between several major sport associations and the Culture, Youth and Sport Ministry continue, subject Minister Charles Ramson Jr spoke with Guyana Times Sport about the purpose and progress of this exercise.
“Luckily, all of the associations are happy to do it. They’ve been very forthcoming with their information and their efforts. So, I’m very happy with the way things are going,” he said, after being questioned about his continuous meetings with sport associations in Guyana.
This is the second round of engagement that the Minister has conducted with the associations to get a better understanding of their functions. Ramson Jr, however, stressed that for him, it was much more than a “gyaff session” and that the consultations would be continued throughout his tenure.
“I’d said to them that for the core sports, they should be able to have monthly engagements with me. But I just didn’t want to have a monthly ‘gyaff’ session, it’s a working engagement. So, what you see here is what will continue for the next five years, monthly,” Ramson Jr commented.
While sharing his hope to have comprehensive dialogue, the Minister indicated that the purpose of the activity was to create a partnership between the Ministry and associations that would better sport and develop talent.
“It’s not a hot and sweaty kind of start where it fizzles out at the end; we’re here to work with people and we’re here to collaborate and then partner with the associations to how it is we can get our programme rolled off. I’d said to the associations that I don’t want to take over their sport, even though I can; I want to be able to work with them, so that we can help talent in the country,” he stated.
Ramson Jr went on to divulge some of the main focus areas presently, sharing that he was bent on getting acquainted with the governance policies of the sport associations and how they are run.
“What we spent a lot of time on over this last session was to get the governance questions answered, because I want to be able to satisfy for myself that they are managing their areas well. Because their membership will require a level of accountability from them and them being responsible to their association and memberships,” he disclosed to this publication.
The Sport Minister continued, “‘Cause as much as they have expectations on us and the people of the country have expectations of us, their memberships also have expectations of them and if the Ministry is going to be engaging with them, then it means that we have to see if they’re legitimate and being governed well.” (Jemima Holmes)