No more unfinished tasks

The distribution of the portfolios for the Cabinet of St Vincent and the Grenadines, as announced last Monday, shows that Cecil Mc Kie will remain as the minister who has the responsibility for Sports.

Whilst this column was anticipating a twinning of Sports with either the Education or Youth portfolios, this is not case; so the show must go on.{{more}}

Mc Kie was installed in the ministry which also holds the portfolios of Tourism and Culture in February 2012, after serving as Minister of Health, Wellness and the Environment for just over two years and two months.

Given his natural upbringing, as one who has always been around sports – an athlete, cricketer and footballer at the St Vincent Grammar School, and later became an integral part of the then vibrant Arnos Vale Educational Sports and Cultural Organization (AVESCO), when extrapolated, Mc Kie’s task of shaping sports at the national setting was thought to be a matter of course.

Coming out of the blocks, Mc Kie sought to engage and interface with national sporting associations and the like and was indeed on the ball. His sessions, during the hosting tripartite, proved to be productive forums for all stakeholders, as in the main they were candid and mature. However, Mc Kie seemed to have faded a bit to the finish line of his tenure; thus he left behind him some unfinished tasks.

Whilst one would readily understand and accept that many of his ambitions hinged on the share of national financial pie, the duty is still his to see them to fruition.

Therefore, Mr Minister, with you already having tasted the bowling, assessed the pitch, it is time for you to start putting runs on the tins.

Let not this, your second innings, go by with you not accomplishing some of the promises, programmes and projects that are hanging or remaining so, even if you are not in the same post by 2020.

So, at the get go, get the ball rolling and begin to cement your place on the team.

Mr Mc Kie, the people of Campden Park, and by extension South Leeward belt and St Vincent and the Grenadines are waiting patiently on the sidelines to see the demolition and subsequent rebuilding of the pavilion at the Campden Park Playing Field.

This was one of your unanswered undertakings in your last stay at the crease, as this refurbishing project did not get off the mark.

Another of your deficits is the proposed beach volleyball court, which is afforded St Vincent and the Grenadines through the Volleyball Confederation – NORCECA.

Mr Minister, it was proposed that the court be placed at the back of the Media Centre at the Arnos Vale Playing Field. Let us see you pushing to get it done and keep the fire burning on the national volleyball association to spike for the venture to come to fruition.

Minister Mc Kie, you must be reminded that it was not too long ago that you repeated on the political platform that your party has once again put the issue of the National Stadium back on the front burner.

Many Vincentians, however, have resigned themselves to stadium project being a dream, a wish, and long-term possibility, as it has mainly gained currency when it is close to general elections.

However, with it again being raised during the December 9 national poll, then you and your party have re-signed that social contract with the electorate and the population as a whole.

Your party’s Youth Manifesto emphatically stated: “Over the next five years, the ULP government will: Continue the building/rehabilitation of sports facilities at the community levels and nationally; in this regards, the construction of the planned National Stadium will be effected.”

Not this column’s words, certainly.

And, as you are poised in the prime configuration as Minister of Tourism, you Mr Mc Kie, with pending commissioning of the Argyle International Airport, it will be a good idea to use the hangar of the Mustique Airways as an interim indoor facility.

This is against the reality that the promised one, which was to have been located at the Anglican School Annexe in Kingstown, has somehow fallen off the sporting radar.

Overall though, your efforts, commitment, intuition and more can force the sports vote to get more of the national budget into its kitty.

Finally, you must be reminded that the youth population in the main loves sports and your tenure should be focussed on them, as they can make or break your administration.