Sports and the Performing Arts have never really been the beneficiary of serious investment in Trinidad & Tobago, even with the few glimmers of success seen. A look at the Budget allocations for the last couple of years will highlight the inadequate attention shown to the Creative sector. For instance, in 2015, the Government allocated – which for all intents and purposes does not mean that is what will be received – $270 million towards Carnival 2016, a 14% reduction from the previous year.
This allocation is to be shared among the National Carnival Commission (NCC), National Carnival Bandleaders Association (NCBA), Trinbago Unified Calypsonians Organisation (TUCO) and Pan Trinbago, bearing in mind performers from Panorama 2016 have not yet been paid; and that is just one area of the Performing Arts. Sports has not fared much better either, with the main focus seeming to be on the revenue possibilities rather than the development of the athletes themselves. In the 2014/15 Budget, about $600 million was allocated to the industry, which was reduced by almost $200 million in 2015/16.
The following is an excerpt from the 2015/16 Budget, which gives a clear indication of how the sector is viewed: “In addition to this improved sporting infrastructure, we are developing 3 major State-of-the-Art national sporting facilities, all of which are at an advanced stage of completion. We shall be in a position to leverage these facilities to attract international events at the National Aquatic Centre, the National Tennis Centre and at the National Cycle Centre. In doing so, Trinidad and Tobago will be marketed as a preferred sports training destination.” It’s difficult not to compare Trinidad & Tobago with our Caribbean counterpart, Jamaica, who continues to produce outstanding results in Sports, but then Prime Minister Portia Simpson-Miller articulated that Sports is an integral part of the cultural and creative industries of the Jamaican economy.
It really isn’t that difficult to understand how serious they are about the business of Sports. She went on to say that the well-being of the athletes must be a priority, and her government had actively put things in place to ensure that it became a reality, including providing health services, major medical, overseas medical emergencies, maternity, dental and optical benefits. In the 2016/17 Sectorial Debate, the Jamaican Minister of Culture, Gender, Entertainment and Sport, Olivia Grange, made known her intentions to facilitate expected economic gains, eliminate duplication and inefficiencies, improve institutional sports capacity, and maximise Jamaica’s full potential in the sports industry, an effort that includes collaboration with the Education, Youth and Information Ministry to invest in outstanding young athletes at the high school level – an initiative that is severely lacking in Trinidad. How then do we expect the results to be on par with countries like Jamaica who finished with 11 medals in the recently concluded 2016 Summer Olympics? A Reality check people!!