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Stephen Francis
KINGSTON: World-renowned sprint coach Stephen Francis, on Thursday, said that the relationship between the Jamaican Government and the nation’s athletes need to be “symbiotic and not parasitic”.
Francis, founder/director and head coach of MVP Track & Field Club, the home of Asafa Powell, Shelly-Ann Fraser, Brigitte Foster-Hylton, Melaine Walker, Shericka Williams, Michael Frater, Nesta Carter, Kaliese Spencer, Anniesha McLaughin and Germaine Mason, urged the government to “give back” to the athletes.
He said the government has not invested tangibly but had benefited tremendously from the world’s fascination with the exploits of these Jamaican youths.
Francis, who was speaking at the CAST/UTech Alumni Power Breakfast held on Thursday morning at Lillian’s Restaurant on the school’s campus, advocated income tax exemptions for the athletes.
Citing the high cost of developing and caring for the athletes and the Government’s lack of participation in the development process, coach Francis said that he had consulted with media professionals in Europe, who estimate that Jamaica’s success at the World Championships in Berlin (August 2009) and the Beijing Olympics (2008), had each resulted in 96 ‘accrued’ hours of positive television exposure, per year.
He conservatively estimated the value of this exposure to be worth more than US$7 million.
UTech President, Professor Errol Morrison, urged the Government to reconsider its recent rejection of the University proposal to utilize the Trelawny Multipurpose Stadium as its ‘Western Jamaica’ Campus.
Professor Morrison presented Francis with the Chancellor’s Medal, in recognition of his most outstanding contribution to the University’s development.
UTech’s director of sports, Anthony Davis, was presented with a check, approximately US$89,887 to upgrade the University’s sports infrastructure.
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Franno, that’s going to be a hard one for the government to swallow. Some of the poorest people in JA can’t even find food to eat but yet they have to find the money to pay for property tax or else it will be seized by the government.
What of teachers and nurses? Mr Francis it truly reaching here.
[...] Alumi Power Breakfast last week Thursday, was reported as saying that the relationship should be “symbiotic and not parasitic”, and advocated income tax exemptions for the [...]