Ministry owes Linden Inter-Block B/ball teams

- LABA being given run-around to get money

By Edison Jefford
It is closing in on a year since the Ministry of Culture, Youth and Sports, hosted its Inter-Block Basketball initiative in Linden, and yet the ministry has not honoured its guarantee to award prize monies to the top two teams in the event.
Kaieteur Sport was reliably informed yesterday that Central Mackenzie and Christianburg are still to receive their first and second place prize money from the ministry, which made it clear last year that they would have rewarded the teams.
According to a source, the $50,000 first place and $25,000 second place prize monies are still to be paid to the two teams respectively. The Linden Amateur Basketball Association (LABA) has not received any money from the ministry.
“First, when the tournament was being held, Steve (Ninvalle) said that the ministry would pay the $50,000 first place prize and he will find a sponsor for the second place prize,” an informant close to the matter told this newspaper.
Ninvalle, who is the Parliamentary Secretary within the ministry, was directly attached to the competition, which was thought of as an initiative to promote more community-based sports in Linden. It was supposed to have been nation-wide.
Efforts to reach Ninvalle for comment yesterday proved futile. “Hi this is Steve, I am not around at the moment…,” his mobile voicemail said. Kaieteur Sport was intent on getting his informed perspective on what is definitely an issue.
The source, who spoke exclusively to this newspaper yesterday, informed this writer that Ninvalle had spoken to officials from the LABA about an arrangement that was made for the latter to collect the money at a recent event in Linden.
Apparently, the ministry official and Member of Parliament told the LABA at the launch of the recently held Victory Valley Royals Schools’ Championships that he will hand the cheque to Linden’s Member of Parliament, Vanessa Kissoon.
Kissoon, a Peoples National Congress Parliamentarian, and Ninvalle had to cross paths in Parliament sometime after the launch of the schools’ tournament, and it would have been convenient for Ninvalle to give Kissoon the cheque for Linden.
“The last word I heard was that he was to give the money to Kissoon in Parliament, but it does not seem as though that happened because the teams are still calling the association for their money,” the obviously distraught informant continued.
Checks with officials from the LABA yesterday revealed that the association has not yet received any confirmation from the ministry. One high-ranking official said that they are being told several different stories when inquiries are made.
“We are hearing different things. One time we’re hearing that the cheque is ready and it’s done and a next time we are hearing that the ministry has to sign the cheque,” an official, who requested and spoke under anonymity, confirmed.
To complete the issuance of the prize monies to the top four teams, the LABA had agreed to raise the third and fourth place prizes on their own. The informant told Kaieteur Sport that the matter is threatening the transparency of the association.