 For staying with us on the Sportsmax zone, over the years, fans have been voicing concern about the lack of support for athletes by respective Caribbean governments. Just two weeks ago, we here at Sportsmax spoke to the Vincentian 800-meter national record holder, Shafiqa Maloney, who explained the difficulties she has been having to support herself financially and otherwise in preparation for Paris 2024 Olympics. In a quick response, Prime Minister Rao Gonzalez during a post-cabinet press conference or briefing pledged his government support for the 25-year-old. This young lady on Sportsmax, I listened to her and knew her and you offer and said to her, said to Eloise, this young lady has gone through a lot and she is deserving of the full support of the government. So Dr. Gonzalez joins us via Zoom now to further discuss his pledge of support. Prime Minister Gonzalez, welcome to the Sportsmax zone. We have spoken to you before on this show but pleasure to have you back on, sir. Welcome to the show. Good to see you, my brother and my sister and my other brother. Our Prime Minister, talk to us quickly about the advances that you would have made in this project since you addressed cabinet on helping Shafiqa. Thank you. Let me first of all say happy birthday to Shafiqa. She was 25 yesterday, at least that's what I've been advised. In fact, she told me the last time that the 27th is her birthday. So happy birthday, my dear Shafiqa. We have made advancement on two fronts, the governmental and the private sector in terms of support. There are two companies here. One a regional company with a footprint in St. Vincent and the Grenadines and one company originating in St. Vincent and the Grenadines which has a regional footprint. Both of them have responded quite well and they have made arrangements to provide support in addition to support to be provided by the government. In fact, last week at cabinet we approved some of the money to be sent to Shafiqa and also to handle Robyn. You may be familiar with him, he is an 800 meter runner, he was at university in Pennsylvania, he was at Jamaica College on a program there and the two companies I can name them, one is the Vincentian company with a regional footprint, Eastern Caribbean group of companies which is a flour mill, rice mill and animal feed mill. The corairs which is a branch, a local branch of the regional company, the regional conglomerate and Goddard's out of Barbados and I spoke to the chief executive officers of both companies locally here and they have either sent resources today in the process of sending because they were making all the relevant arrangements, go through all the governance arrangements to make sure that they secure the requisite approvals and in the case of the government of St. Vincent and the Grenadines, I was in touch with Shafiqa's agent in St. Vincent whom I know personally, she's a friend of mine and the requisite arrangements have been made, received a budget from Shafiqa for the period from now until the end of August. I've been sent also some details on the immigration situation and we are working at that, you know, it's easier to provide financial resources than in fact to get past some roadblocks in the US immigration system. Having said that PM, before we delve deeper into the entire issue, you can confirm that the visa issue is still being worked on so she will for sure miss the world indoor championship in Glasgow this weekend. I believe that she'd miss it. I don't think that that matter has been resolved as yet. But when I had spoken to her on the last occasion, I didn't get to speak to her over the last couple of days. I just got back from Ghana last evening from the Karakorne meeting. The matter had not yet been resolved. As far as I was advised, if there is any update which is better than that information that I have, well then I'd be very pleased to hear it. So that's the situation. In fact, you know, my brothers and my dear sister, in the case of Shafiqa, even as a young lady and I say I've known her, I've been involved with her since just 13 years old. She has first came to my attention by someone from St. Vincent and the Grenadines. She was a coach in Jamaica, Michael Oliver, the father of protege. The order of mercy. The order of mercy. You're not a brethren. You're not a brethren. We know him well. You're not a brethren. Actually, he's my family. Oh, he is. We are blood relations. So don't tamper with Aya and Aya. And we, as I have told persons in Shafiqa as a classic case, that the stone that the builder has rejected has now become the head corner stone. Prime Minister, my question is, you know, based on the situation and to me it was a heartbreaking situation to of course sit down and listen to her interview because I was off the show for that particular day. But of course listening to the interview to me was a really, really sad situation. And of course, even Shafiqa was almost close to tears. My question to you is how do we ensure that, you know, at least it doesn't reach to this level where they're on international television talking about things like this. And what will the SVG government at least as much as you can do put in place to ensure that, you know, the athletes at least get some sort of help? I want to give you an example of something. Yeah. And then I will speak generally and also specifically. Okay. If you permit me. Yeah, sure. And in an exercise of this, we have to be both critical and self critical and to be honest and straightforward with everybody. That's the way how I know to do it. Let's send the number, send Vincent and the Grenadines various entities in Saint Vincent and the Grenadines, send a number of athletes, for instance, to Jesse Foster, your college in Jamaica, or athletes training as coaches, some as athlete, developing athletes themselves. And last year, I think the government itself sent two persons. Last year, I was informed purely by because of my ease of accessibility to me. One one athlete called one student from Jesse Foster, telephone me and said, look, 14 of them are about to be closed out from their examinations because of a raise of monies. I said what you're talking about 14. The actual coaches or entities had sent these people, not the government. Yeah. And they had, I contacted immediately the director myself and gave the assurance that whatever the areas, the government of Saint Vincent will pay. It turned out to be 180,000 US dollars. Sometimes some coaches, some organizations send people to places. Yeah. And if you don't tell me, if you don't have it through the system, I'm not going to know. No, I'm not saying that this is the case with Safika, but I want to answer because your question, I'm answering you in an omnibus fashion and I drew an example here. I repeatedly been seen on the radio when I meet the coaches when I meet everybody. I said to them, look, the associations, please, for heaven's sake, tell me when you're sending your students what arrangements you're making. Don't do them on your own because you're more than likely would end up in difficulties and problems. And I don't want to see that happen to any of our people, especially our young people. No, as I had said, in that statement I made, it wasn't actually after a press, it wasn't after a cabinet meeting. In the cabinet room, I had some young people and some principals with me from my constituency, celebrating 30 years of my representation in my constituency. And I was given some money to each of the schools in my constituency from my own pocket. And having done that, I then proceeded to speak to the issue of Safika. In sometime in September 2022, Safika had reached out to my office. And naturally, I sent this to the Ministry of Sports because she sent a budget with a significant number. I'm not saying it's a number beyond what is reasonable for an athlete for the first year. In fact, it was not out of the ballpark. And the answer that I got back after the Ministry of Sports had consulted with the various entities is that she was, in their opinion at the time, not deserving of support. This is why I say that this is a stone that the builder rejected. And I'm not calling names of any association or any person in the country. But clearly, the assessment which was made was a faulty assessment. And if I'm not correct in stating that it was an incorrect assessment, what this young lady has done. Going through all these difficulties, these trials and tribulations, when I have heard about it, when my wife drew to my attention the morning after I began to see the sports max interview until she drew to my attention, my immediate response is that she's deserving of support. And one of the things that I say all the time, look, this is a 24-year-old young lady now 25. God has given her a remarkable talent, a remarkable gift. She had gone through some difficulties and through all these challenges, she has emerged as a beacon of fresh hope. And when people go through the fire, so to speak, and they come out of the fire, they are still still. Those of us who have been around, those of us who have lived more years than we have remained and left to live, that we have to put our hands out and help these persons. But it is evident that not only in St. Vincent and the United Caribbean countries, there is an insufficient or an adequate interplay between sporting organizations and coaches and governments. There are lots of blame to go around. And I don't want to start to throw those things at my stage in life. I don't want to do that kind of a raking up. There is a beautiful poem which I had recited to Shafiqa when I spoke to her written by Daniel Williams, a poet from my country, now dead. Extraordinary human being entitled, we are the cenotaphs. Said we are all time. Only the future is ours to desecrate. The present is the past. Our father's mischiefs. You may be pleased to know that the poet didn't say that it's our mother's mischiefs, just our father's. Because perhaps like me, many persons in my case, I had a fantastic father. My mother fathered me. So the mischiefs we put at the feet of the father's. And I'm hoping that both in relation to Shafiqa and Handel. Handel Rubin. And others too, a lot of mostly drew my attention to another case of incension in St. Kitts, a young lady who is there as a student in St. Kitts. Look, you know in the case of Shafiqa, I think, and this is why the structures are important. I'm not saying brethren and sister in any ad hoc manner. And we have to do it in a carefully structured, ordered way. If Lord and Mercy, if the link between Lord of Mercy, between Michael Olivier and Shafiqa had not been quote-unquote interruption after she had left St. Kitts and went into the United States, this probably may not have happened because there would have been a link between us in a personal way. But these things shouldn't depend on personal links. Yes, I agree with you, Prime Minister. We have a lot more to go into on this issue. We have a break. We will come back and continue this discussion on the other side of the break, Prime Minister. Thank you very much. Thank you, Prime Minister of St. Vincent and the Grenadines. Ralph Gonzalez, after this. Very much for staying with us on the Sportsmax Zone. We are speaking with Dr. Ralph Gonzalez, the Prime Minister of St. Vincent and the Grenadines. And we are discussing the attendant issues relating to the Shafiqa Maloney situation. Remember, she had an interview with us here on the Sportsmax Zone where she detailed her issues as she prepares or difficulties as she prepares for the Paris Olympic Games. Subsequent to that, support was promised to her by Dr. Gonzalez and the St. Vincent and the Grenadines government. Dr. Gonzalez has said to us here today that some support has already been sent to her and some other support is being worked on in the final stages. And yes, she should have that pretty soon as well. But we've also expanded the conversation now, Dr. Gonzalez, and I note that before the break, you said that this cannot be done in an ad hoc way. And I'm very happy you went there because that is exactly where I wanted to go. And I asked the question, is it time that St. Vincent and the Grenadines, and by the way, this is not just for St. Vincent and the Grenadines. I think this is for many countries across the Caribbean to now formalize the way that athletes, and I use athletes as a general term because I really mean sportsmen and women, that we formalize the way that assistance is given to them. And I asked that question because if a formal system was in place, then we would not have been left in a position where a determination needed to be made as to whether Shafiqa Maloney deserved assistance. If the formal structure was in place, then it would likely say once you are at Olympic or World Championship qualifying standard, then you are eligible for this level of support. If you're within this range of qualifying for an Olympic or a World Championship, then you are entitled to this level of success. And you could possibly have tears to that support system. Is it time that we get there, and have you as the Prime Minister and as a government started those discussions as to how you are going to get there? Well, it's like you were inside my cabinet room just over a week ago when we were talking about this thing. I said there has to be a clearly articulated policy. And it has to be connected also to a kind of activism grounded in good governance within the organizations themselves, the Athletic Association, the Football Federation, the Swimming Association, and all the various entities which governments vote. Because you see what happens as you probably are aware. These sporting organizations rightly guard their own independence jealously. But often that is used to have just a handful of bureaucrats assuming suzerainty in those organizations. And for prolonged period of time, and they have the links with the regional and international organizations that it becomes almost an occupation and a way of life and living for them. Living off the hog so to speak. No. I don't have to interfere with your business internally. But surely it cannot be that the separateness must be such that we have a suicide pact and that the only people or the main victims of that suicide pact are really the young people. Suicide pact, I'm using it in a metaphoric sense. That they're the young people who suffer. There are certain aspects of what we do in St. Vincent and Grenadines in a formal way. First of all, we have a policy. If you play a sport for St. Vincent and Grenadines at the national level, you must either be at work or you must be at school. And I can't know all who are at work or at school if the associations through the ministry of sport don't tell me, don't tell us the government. That's the first. I'm not going to talk about building up physical facilities and all that. That we can talk about that otherwise. I'm talking about the issue which we are currently addressing and which is important that we focus on. I make sure that those who excel, even young athletes, my government makes them sporting ambassadors with the privilege of carrying a diplomatic passport. Prime Minister, before you go on from there, for the purposes of this discussion, I want to separate specific government support from support of associations. Because we know each individual association connected to a world governing body will get a certain allocation that they will use to run their associations. But specifically... Pause there for a moment. Remember I talked about the good governance in those associations. Reports come to me that there is much opaqueness and lack of transparency as to which association it's what money from which source and how those resources are applied or distributed. That's why I said I don't want to get in your internal business. And I don't want to get into internal business either. But the point is this. The point is this, my brother. Clearly, it can be that you separate yourself in such a way that you have such a wall of separation that in our own isolation from each other we have essentially what I call a suicide pact. We clearly have to have a proper meeting of minds. And then that is complicated too because we are free and democratic societies not like in some more centralized systems where you have individual coaches. And coaches can be so idiosyncratic as you are aware. And sometimes they don't want anybody to encroach on their terrain or their turf with their athletes and they will make their arrangements because the association is this or the association is that. I mean, I'm sure you're familiar with some of that in JA. I am familiar with a lot of it right across the Caribbean not just in Jamaica, but I do want to separate that though because I think that is something that we will eventually take up with the governing body for athletics in St. Vincent and the Grenadines. But I really want to zone in specifically on the government support and whether the government specific support can be formalized in such a way that an athlete can go on a website and say that, okay, given my performance, given my time this is the type of support that I'm entitled to and can apply for through the government. I agree with you 100%. But what happens? The things are not separate. They're connected. Even though they're distinct for analytic purposes in operational terms like for instance somebody comes to me or goes to the minister of sports the minister of sports may not have all the data. If you see what I mean, my brother they have to go to the association. What really, what are the recent performances of this or that athlete to see whether in the guidelines you're suggesting and I agree with you. But independent committees can be set up to find that information though, Prime Minister. I hear you, I understand it. You may feel it's best to go to the individual associations but the sports ministry can set up independent committees that can help to get and analyze that information. I really would love to see that whatever structures evolves rising out of what we're talking about that the ministry of sports can work in a more seamless manner concerned really with one thing only or principally the development of these young people as finished personalities to excel in whatever skill at the sport they have and beyond that that they will have meaningful lives because I don't want to see people in their glory years and after their glory years they live essentially glory years as athletes that they live in some kind of a genteel poverty or worse than genteel poverty. Absolute peenery as we have seen in some circumstances in our Caribbean. I want to see these individuals as finished personalities in every material particular. Not all of them going to end up as champions already for me. I will tell you this, this young lady whatever she does between now and the Olympics for me Ralph Gonzalez personally not as prime minister she's already a champion for me because the adversity she has come through and to have performed as well as she has done admittedly early in the season this is something remarkable and this young lady shows a strength of character she shows a determination and I believe that that is what is going to steal her for going ahead because she has something also to prove I think she has it in her to show people you know you think I couldn't make it you know you didn't have the confidence in me you didn't have the faith in my ability that's why I quoted just now from the sands the stone had to be rejected become the head corner stone we're fast running out of time really sorry for cutting you but we're fast running out of time and I have to get in this last one before we go because we have only about a minute but there has been an influx of Caribbean and African athletes at the high school level the under 20 level here in Jamaica you spoke about the athletes that have been sent to GC Foster College that is the tertiary level but Saint Vincent and the Grenadines one of the leading nations in terms of the number of overseas athletes that compete in the Jamaican high school system in fact as you may well be aware now Amal Glasgow is one of the favourites for the class one boys 400 meters at Champs this year he's at Kingston College there's Devon Mac at Jamaica College you spoke about Handel Robin who went to Jamaica College as well and there are many others who are in the system or have come through the system I want you to talk to us quickly about how you feel about this development and a lot of your best and youngest talent being sent to Jamaica for development and whether there is an eye on one day being able to adequately develop your own athletes from that junior level well as I see it this Caribbean community is one if Jamaica and not if Jamaica has shown that in athletics it has particular facilities it has a certain track record it has an infrastructure and while we are seeking to build ours why not take our promising athletes once we have the proper support and for them to be protected and maintained in good order in Jamaica and I have no doubt with great love and caring fine and that we can work with one another and advance them while at the same time developing our own infrastructure and infrastructure here not only physical infrastructure but the infrastructure of coaches and the type of support systems we don't have the number of private sector companies which may provide support and we may not have in some of the schools what you do have in Jamaica I mean I lived in Jamaica for many many years I spent 7 years of my life in Jamaica so I know the land of wooden waters quite well and I don't what happens in Jamaica it's like what happens in St. Vincent and the Grenadines I think of us as one space so I would like us to continue to work in a collaborative in a collaborative manner and I'm very happy to see these young persons going to KC and JC and other schools and of course at the post-secondary level at JC Foster Prime Minister thank you so much by the way you were at Irvin weren't you? Oh please never never never I mean why do you want to offend me after this magnificent interview I I I I I'm a tailor man Oh you're a tailor right I'm a tailor right Oh my gosh I was president when I was president It's not Chancellor but okay No, well actually I lived on Block X in Chancellor Hall when I became president of this the Guild of Honour It makes a lot of sense now you got some of the greatness my friend Do not debil Do not debil Prime Minister we're out of time It's been an absolute pleasure speaking with you Thank you very much for joining us Come and look for me in St. Vincent Man I will, I will When you come, when you come make sure if you come in the wrong easter bring me some bun I have cheese Bring me some Hannah Tong Bakery bun Alright Alright Prime Minister take care Let's take a break on the sports mic zone We'll go back so much more to come