Saith: We didn’t want to get into World Cup war

Two Government ministers yesterday appeared to  contradict each other over the fairly simple matter of whether Trinidad and Tobago had bid for the opening ceremony of Cricket World Cup 2007 or not. They were speaking at the post-Cabinet press briefing at Whitehall yesterday. Sports Minister Roger Boynes said Trinidad and Tobago was the only country which filled out all the documents for the “Yellow Package” and “from my understanding” this country did bid for the “Yellow Package.”

However, Public Administration Minister Dr Lenny Saith intervened, saying that Cabinet took a position from the start that “we were not going to compete for any package with anybody. In order to demonstrate what we had, we took the Yellow Package requirements and said: “This is what we have. So we can’t say that we bid for the ‘Yellow Package.’” “What the minister (Boynes) is trying to say is that countries did indicate what package for which they wished to be considered. I don’t believe that everybody got what they bid for. The bid process was something we had difficulty with from the start. We didn’t want to get into a head-to-head bidding process with any Caricom country for any package — blue, brown, yellow or green,” Saith stressed.

Boynes then added that each country had to fill out “something” and therefore the documents relating to the “Yellow Package” were selected by Trinidad and Tobago, saying that sport was supposed to unify the region. Boynes lamented that at this point several countries were unhappy. Jamaica expressed some concerns about the fact that although it bid for the “Black Package” (the finals) it received the “Yellow Package.” We don’t want to spend half of the time, each country watching the other country, and quarrelling. We want to make Cricket 2007 the best ever,” Boynes said. He said in the best interest of Caricom, unity, and in the interest of the continued development of Trinidad and Tobago, Government had accepted the package which it was given and intends to play its part in ensuring World Cup Cricket 2007 is the best ever.

Noting that many Trinidadians wanted the opening ceremony, Boynes said it was time to move on. Both Ministers agreed Government now had to do a revised budget, since the costs have been substantially reduced. Boynes said the $100 million which Government had planned to spend would no longer include the $9 million on the opening ceremony and the $11 million on the overlay at the National Stadium, among other things.