Boynes takes blame, apologises to President

SPORTS Minister Roger Boynes has accepted full responsibility for the late arrival of Olympic bronze medallist George Bovell III at the National Awards ceremony on Tuesday evening at President’s House. He has already apologised to President George Maxwell Richards for causing the delay and has also promised to do so in writing. The minister admitted yesterday to being responsible for the delay when Newsday spoke to him at a workshop his ministry hosted at the Crowne Plaza, Port-of-Spain. At the awards ceremony on Tuesday evening, guests were disappointed when they realised Bovell was not present to receive his Chaconia Gold Medal, despite the fact that his plane had arrived around 5.30 pm.

However, after the presentation of the other awards, President Richards announced that Bovell was kept back in his attempt to return from Athens “by the quickest route” because “quite uncharacteristically, BWIA was late.” The original arrival time of the BWIA flight was 4.30 pm. The President requested that guests’ partake of refreshments and allow for the presentation to Bovell to proceed after the reception had begun. Bovell arrived at President’s House at about 8 pm in his TT coloured track suit to rousing applause and hugs. Guests were hastily ushered back to their seats and dignitaries took their positions on the stage to “complete” the awards presentation, which was unprecedented. Bovell was given a standing ovation.

It was the first time a national award medal had been pinned on an athlete’s track suit. Boynes yesterday explained the reception for Trinidad and Tobago’s Olympic team had been planned “well in advance.” He said the flight arrived at Piarco International airport at 5.30 pm and by “the time he (George) cleared it was late.” He said there were “people at the airport who wanted to see George and there was a reception for the team.” He said he wasn’t aware the President was awaiting George’s arrival, until he got a telephone call from George’s mother saying “we need to hustle it up.” Boynes said he literally had to pull George from autograph-seeking fans, together with his father, and “take them straight to President’s House.”

In “hindsight,” he said, “ I should have had a police escort available because we really found ourselves in quite a bit of traffic. “Yes, yes I take full responsibility (for making him late) and as a matter of fact I apologised to the President on the said night. I explained to him it was very difficult for him (George) to come away, and then we got stuck in traffic.” Asked if he would write the President expressing his regrets, Boynes promised: “Definitely, of course I will. He is our President, I love him very much. I really, really want him to understand what has happened, and I have to thank him for being so gracious and accommodating in that everything was still able to be pulled off.”