Des Vignes wants Sport and Culture fund board appointed

Senior Reporter/Producer

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Member of Parliament for Diego Martin West, Hans Des Vignes, has called for the immediate appointment of the board of directors for the Prime Minister’s Sport and Culture Fund, which operates under the Office of the Prime Minister.

During an opposition media conference held at the office of the Leader of the Opposition on Charles Street, Port-of-Spain, yesterday, Des Vignes made the plea in response to the funding freeze by the Sport Company of Trinidad and Tobago (SporTT).

The funding freeze was revealed during a meeting with SporTT and the 15 National Governing Bodies (NGBs) under SporTT’s remit at the National Racquet Centre in Tacarigua on Monday.

Des Vignes, referencing a Guardian newspaper article on the matter, said, “The president of the NAAA said sport in T&T is dead. Because again, this government has withdrawn sponsorship and funding from sports, whether it is through NGC or through the sports and culture fund, which does not have a board of directors to date. Even those who want to apply through the sports and culture fund cannot do so because there is no board to give approval. Again, we ask that the government approve and assign a board to the sports and culture fund of Trinidad and Tobago.”

The opposition MP highlighted widely reported instances of several national representative teams being denied funding between July 2025 and the present, including the national men’s and women’s hockey teams, which were denied travel to the Pan American Hockey Cup in Uruguay last year; and most recently, the cancellation of T&T’s hosting of the 2025 Davis Cup Americas event, which was scheduled to take place in July.

Noting the sentiments of dejection expressed by several heads of the NGBs involved in Monday’s meeting with SporTT, Des Vignes said, “Under the People’s National Movement, there was a clear policy, and there were clear guidelines on sports. This year’s Davis Cup tennis event became another casualty of the government’s reduced funding to the NGBs.”

Des Vignes took exception to the absence of the minister of Sport and Youth Affairs (MSYA) Phillip Watts and MSYA permanent secretary Penelope Bradshaw-Niles from Monday’s meeting with the NGBs, which was attended by newly appointed SporTT Chief Executive Officr (CEO) Arnold Ram, its chairman Kester Lendor and deputy chairman Shaun Teekasingh, while only three of the ten directors were present.

During the news conference, Des Vignes said, “The sporting organisations are begging for funding, and what is the minister doing? Nothing. What is the ministry doing? ‘Nothing’, Des Vignes said. “The minister of sport and youth affairs is unavailable to meet with the NGBs. Again absent. A minister of silence, a minister of cancellation of programmes. If these sporting bodies do not have what is necessary, it is your duty as minister to work with them through the processes.”

Watts is yet to make any statement on the matter; however, via an MSYA corporate communications WhatsApp group, it is understood that the minister plans to meet with all 53 NGBs on June 3 at the Hasely Crawford Stadium, Port-of-Spain.