Minister for Youth Development and Sports, Kenson Casimir has defended the government’s funding of sports infrastructure and dismissed criticism directed at the administration over Saint Lucia not hosting senior West Indies cricket matches at the Daren Sammy Cricket Ground this year.
Questions have been raised on social media about whether the funds spent on the island’s premier cricket venue for the T20 World Cup last June were justified. One of the main points of contention is the often-cited $80 million loan for sports development.
However, during Monday’s pre-Cabinet press briefing, Casimir stressed that this loan, which was State-guaranteed to fund preparations for the T20 Cricket World Cup and the National Lotteries Authority’s island-wide youth and sports infrastructure programme, was much broader in scope than just upgrading the Daren Sammy Cricket Ground.
While he did not specify the exact amount allocated for stadium improvements, he argued that focusing solely on the venue was a narrow and misleading perspective.
“It’s not only about venue upgrades. You have other dynamics that you have to deal with,” he said. “You have a lot of logistics in terms of police, in terms of health care, in terms of employing different people to effectively ensure that you have the smooth sailing of the event. I mean it’s kind of crazy that they seem to be fixated on only physical development, but the fact of the matter is a Cricket World Cup had a lot of different dynamics that we had to ensure that we invest in.”
The minister also suggested that much of the current debate is politically motivated, aimed at undermining the administration’s efforts in sports development.
“We had a bumper year in 2024. I know also that there’s a lot of politics being played, trying to play on the minds of individuals simply because we made the announcement that 20 facilities will be given attention,” he said.
Casimir dismissed criticism about the absence of games at the venue as “absolutely laughable”. He explained that the latest round of fixtures is simply part of Cricket West Indies’ venue rotation system, ensuring that all 12 international cricket venues have the opportunity to host top-tier matches.
Additionally, he stressed that while Saint Lucia will not host senior-level international matches, the island will still feature significant cricket events.
“They’ve had islands on rotation in terms of hosting cricket events from time immemorial. From the time I got involved with cricket, you would have had years that Saint Lucia did not host cricket,” he said. “We have a couple of tours this year with West Indies A.”
Despite not hosting senior international matches this year, Saint Lucia will feature regional cricket tournaments and the highly popular Republic Bank Caribbean Premier League (CPL) in which the Saint Lucia Kings will seek to defend their title.
It’s not about the investment, it’s about the purpose it was invested for and how do we tax payer get back on its return. We already know the purpose it was constructed for that amount the government haven’t got back the sum from sports accumulatively. We pump more to maintain standard and we have no affirmative proposition of what will happen so the stadium don’t become a white elephant again. While understandably investment are always needed if it is unable to maintain itself which is happening then it’s a fail investment. Just get an investor and let it service much better services than what it served at present. Surface talks is one reality is another.