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Padarath: Smith Must Wake Up From Slumber, Ministry of Sport a Runaway Horse
Posted On 01 Mar 2018
Princes Town MP, Barry Padarath has slammed Sport Minister Darryl Smith for his deafening silence on the issues related to the lack of funding for the Elite Athlete’s program.
Padarath is calling on the Minister of Sport to address the concerns raised by several athletes including Olympic Medalist, Richard Thompson. He stated that the Minister should be at the center of the dispute resolution process instead of shirking from his responsibility.
The MP noted that he has observed several commentators in the sport industry expressing their dissatisfaction in how the Ministry of Sport and Youth Affairs is being managed. The MP added that the continuous tumultuous exchange between athletes and Ministry personnel suggest that strategies to resolve the matter be immediately revised by the Minister.
Padarath called on the Minister to provide leadership at a time of crisis, when several elite athletes have not been provided with funding since 2015. The MP stated that the Minister of Sport has been quick to take credit for the performance of several elite athletes, however the same athletes have publicly disassociated the Minister and the Ministry from their successes.
Padarath accused the Minister of Sport for victimizing elite athletes and congratulated the affected athletes for speaking out and encouraged the athletes to continue giving a voice to the issues affecting the sport sector.
Padarath indicated that the email exchanges between Ministry personnel and athletes demonstrated that the Ministry and the Minister is not on top of the issues and further that the Ministry’s contempt for the elite athletes need to be dealt with internally by none other than the Minister of Sport.
The Princes Town MP said that for the past two and a half years the Ministry and the Minister has not settled down and gotten to work. He said that Ministry personnel were reflecting the style of the Minister and the government, which was arrogance and conceitedness.
