Stadium ground breaking ceremony – Govt. duty or political campaign meeting?
It was the occasion of the groundbreaking ceremony for the Greenland Multipurpose Stadium at the Greenland Festival Grounds.
However listening to remarks given by Deputy Premier and Minister for Natural Resources and Labour and Seventh District Representative Dr. the Honourable Kedrick D. Pickering and Minister for Education and Culture Honourable Myron V. Walwyn, it was difficult differentiating whether or not one was on an election campaign trail or a government function.
Both Ministers were very emotional and obviously in a political campaign mode as they both were raging and ranting sarcastically about others' ‘sudden interest in youths’.
Hon Walwyn got the ball started when he said and in a mocking tone, “I have to commend Mr Bickerton and his team for their leadership in sports and essentially youth development unlike some people that are around these days, it was not yesterday that you realize, Mr [Andy] Bickerton, that they young people of the Virgin Islands needed you to provide opportunities for them. You did not decide in a year or so before calendar events to be involved and to be around the youths of this community.”
He further continued by when he said, “…I recall the naysayers, the same voices that you hear these days that all of a sudden realize that young people of the Virgin Islands need opportunities for jobs, personal development and recreation. Those voices said that we didn’t need to waste money on such an endeavour. Wasting for them was giving a child or community an improved space to gather, exercise and to train.”
The Deputy Premier, picking up on the ‘campaign trail mode’ kind of remarks when he took to the podium said, “I too have been listening quietly to some comments being made about love for youths, I have not been saying much but I have been listening. All of a sudden there are people who just suddenly love young people and are doing great things for young people.”
In acknowledging the advancement of the government as it relates to the A. O. Shirley Ground Hon Pickering said, “You talking about criticism you ain’t hear criticism yet. I was castigated in my office in the House of Assembly by two senior people when they saying that we were destroying cricket in the country…I almost got my clothes taken off.”
Then the attack was on again when he said, “There are people who are again boasting about their love for youths, all of a sudden them is big, big time youth supporters.”
“When I was fighting hard to build the Youth Empowerment Programme (YEP) they were saying that I was in the pocket of white people, and I was doing this for white people and I challenge anybody to show me a programme that is equivalent of YEP….Anybody, all them who interested now in youth, all of a sudden interested in youth…”
While these comments got some sparse applause from the audience, there were those who were very perturbed about the path taken by the Ministers at such an event. Requesting not to be named one person close to the FIFA and the BVI Football Club expressed disgust at the line the ground breaking ceremony took on.
“They defeated the purpose (Hon Pickering and Hon Walwyn) of this occasion. This is not a campaign trail, this is not election stunts, it is their obligation as a government to do these things, that is what they were put there to do and it’s an obligation not a choice,” said the obviously peeved sportsman.
He further said, “Coming here to attack, you know who, we all know who they were hurling their scorns at, they have to leave that for the campaign trail when government would have been dissolved and they are battling to get back into power that’s when these kind of talks should be coming up. We can’t have a clean event ever? If you want a clean event you got to these days invite them and put them to sit in the audience and not on your programme to speak let them be acknowledged and shut their mouth, this was disgusting this afternoon,” said the disturbed sportsman and a close affiliate with the Government.
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