Ramson Jr. touts “independent commerciality” for Sport Associations

By Akeem Greene

Sport Minister Charles Ramson Jr. said his aim is to build the capacity of each National Sport Association/Federation to the point where they have “independent commerciality.”

The Minister was speaking on Saturday after the Ministry of Culture, Youth and Sport collaborated with the Guyana Bodybuilding and Fitness Federation to host a Virtual competition.

“We want to be able to support all sports, that’s the position we take at the Ministry once it is a legitimate sport, we want to be to support all sports,” the Sport Minister explained.

“We are hoping in this nascent phase for many of these sports, we can help to nurture it so that it gets to the point of independent commerciality [and] that’s where we want to be able to take a lot of sports.”

Ramson Jr. further explained they want to help these bodies with their administration and they will monitor how they do their work so they can be accountable to their members.

“We don’t want to be able to foster a culture where there is no accountability, where there is no responsiveness to membership.”

The Minister’s drive for the Federations/Associations to become self-sustaining comes on the expected economic growth the country is anticipating in the coming years.

At a recent Guyana Olympic Association’s Webinar, the Minister had called on associations to “capture space”, as it regards making themselves marketable on social media, thereby prompting more partnership with the private sector.

“As the market continues to grow, as Guyana transforms and we get a lot more mature in our market economy, there will be a lot more private sector growth. The private sector growth wants to be able to do corporate social responsibility and they also want to know where they can put their money so they can have much more far-reaching type of brand opportunities and that is what the Ministry is trying to do too.”

Since entering office in August, Ramson Jr. has engaged with the majority of the Sport Associations in Guyana, and visited several community grounds to assess their needs to foster growth and sustainability.