The Government of St. Vincent and the Grenadines is spending at least EC$750,000 to host the Emancipation Cricket Festival, which is taking place at Arnos Vale through Sunday night.
“I don’t have the final number, but it would be, I will think, in the region of about $750,000,” Prime Minister Ralph Gonsalves said on Boom FM on Tuesday when asked about the price tag of the tournament.
“I’m giving you a back-of-the-envelope number because I had seen last week at Cabinet a number provided by the committee,” Gonsalves said.
“Of course, some of that would relate to some numbers where you may get some in-kind stuff. So that may take care of some of the expenses,” Gonsalves said.
He noted that the One Family Concert held in 2023 to commemorate Emancipation Day cost the government EC$500,000.
Four teams are taking part in the competition, and there are a number of non-national players among them.
Gonsalves said he was told that the players are not charging to appear in the tournament.
“I believe — the players who are coming are not — the advice that I’ve received — are not charging monies in the sense of professional fees,” he told radio listeners.
“I think a stipend is accorded them. Listen, Keswick Williams is the man who organised those guys from outside. … a lot of them coming to do Keswick and St. Vincent and the Grenadines and West Indies cricket a favour.”
Gonsalves made it clear that he was talking about “West Indies cricket” and not “Cricket West Indies” (CWI).
“We are trying to see if we can make sure that West Indies cricket is properly grounded in the people and have legitimacy there,” said Gonsalves,” said Gonsalves, who was chair of CARICOM’s Prime Ministerial Sub-Committee on Cricket from 2016 to 2023.
“Cricket West Indies doesn’t have legitimacy among the people,” he said.
Some political observers have said that the hastily-organised tourname is part of the Gonsalves government’s attempt to outdo Cricket West Indies in commemoration of 50 years since the West Indies Men’s Cricket team won the One Day International World Cricket Cup in 1975.
CWI honoured the surviving members of the team during a gala event in Barbados, attended by that country’s prime minister, Mia Mottley.
Political observers have said that while the Unity Labour Party (ULP) hopes that the cricket tournament will shore up its chances as it seeks a sixth consecutive term in office later this year, it is targeted specifically at Kishore Shallow, president of a candidate for the main opposition New Democratic Party (NDP).
Shallow will challenge North Leeward MP, the ULP’s Carlos James, who won the seat in 2020 by one vote after a contentious recount.
Asked if he thought that Shallow would be invited to the cricket festival, Gonsalves said, “I don’t know if comrade Carlos James has invited him. I could inquire about that. … The president of Cricket West Indies is the least of my concerns.”
Shallow, a former national and Windward Islands cricketer, has said publicly that he did not expect to be invited to the event.
He has also said that he would be supporting the athletes taking part in the 100th Windward Islands School Games, which wraps up later on Saturday, with SVG last on 19 point, 4 less than St. Lucia.
Dominica leads the point standing, with 38, one less than Grenada.
The government might be hoping that the euphoria of cricket under floodlight at Arnos Vale Sporting Complex lasts longer than it did in June 2024, when SVG hosted games in the ICC Men’s T20 World Cup.
Two weeks after the games ended, Hurricane Beryl ravaged the country, turning all attention to response and, later, recovery, which is still ongoing.
Vincentians are widely expected to elect a new government by November, ahead of the February 2026 constitutional deadline.
Correction: In an earlier version of this article, we misstated the constituency for which Carlos James is MP. It is actually North Leeward.
Least of your worries 🤣🤣🤣 I won’t like to see your reactions for someone who is the focus of your worries then.
It’s truly sad that this useless spectacle takes center stage while there is no medication in the hospital, Grenadines people are still suffering, roads are deplorable and I can write a thesis.
Spend 3/4 million of tax payers money YET, CARLOS IS STILL GOING TO LOSE THE SEAT AND BE FOREVER HUMBLED BY “THE LITTLE BLACK BOY”
I can’t wait to see the back of this ULP government.
Ralph gets away with a lot of stuff because journalist and radio announcers do not as the right questions. How could you be doing something for West Indies crocket and the CWI not involved? A hastily organized cricket festival held in SVG has more legitimacy that the CWI? Saying the CWI president is the least of his problems put the icing on the cake, the Vincentian public knows that Kishore Shallow is a big bone stuck in Ralphs throat.
“Political observers have said that while the Unity Labour Party (ULP) hopes that the cricket tournament will shore up its chances as it seeks a sixth consecutive term in office later this year,…” “shore up” I see what you did there. 🤣🤣🤣
Yet taxpayers are still left footing the bill for IMF and World Bank debt.
and hospitals roads police stations and other things dey ‘n a dirty dilapidated condition but de dotish people love um so, dem proud of their extreme poverty state.
Signs of weakness and desperation on display by this government.