The David Thompson Memorial Football Tournament is back.
Minister of Social Care, Community Development and Constituency Empowerment, Steve Blackett, announced the return of the tournament which had been suspended for a year owing to Government’s cash-strapped position, as he swore in over 100 counsellors for the Constituency Councils last weekend.
Blackett also told the new and repeating counsellors that among legislative changes introduced to their service was that they could now serve three two-year terms, but must attend all meetings in order to be paid.
Explaining the reason for the re-introduction of the football tournament, which the Opposition has severely criticised for its cost to taxpayers, Blackett spoke of some social issues that could be tackled at the community level and others, which were common to several communities and were better addressed nationally.
“We in the Ministry are aware of this and therefore have designed programmes using sports and culture as a catalyst,” he said in the boardroom of the Warrens Office Complex.
“It is with this in mind we have built upon that expressed in the community development department and will once again exploit the David Thompson Memorial Constituency Football Classic as a tool of social re-engineering.”
The tournament usually runs from late October to December.