Minister of Sport Gary Hunt speaks to students of the Cowen Hamilton Secondary School yesterday. PHOTO: Rishi Ragoonath

Sport Minister Gary Hunt has brushed off calls for his resignation one day after he admitted the Sports Company of Trinidad and Tobago (Sportt) made a misstep in the installation of a $2 million national flag at the Hasely Crawford Stadium, Port-of-Spain.

Hunt, when questioned about Chaguanas West MP Jack Warner’s call for his resignation, said: “Do we expect anything different from an Opposition politician? Well. There you go. You have your answer.” Hunt paid a surprise visit to Cowen Hamilton Secondary School, Moruga, yesterday to deliver a congratulatory letter to young athlete Abiola Wallace. The minister used the opportunity to reiterate the Government’s position on the controversial $2 million national flag, stating it was an error which was under review.

Hunt said: “The idea behind erecting a national flag at a facility named after our only Olympic gold medalist was a noble one but we made some errors in the implementation.” He said Sportt had been directed to review its policies and procedures to ensure the error was not repeated. The minister admitted that many raised concerns about the flag and he had listened because “when you execute policies on the public’s behalf you have to be able to meet the public’s expectations.” While he stood by the installation of the flag, he admitted “the implementation did not meet the expectations.” Hunt did not indicate what corrective steps would be taken to ensure there was no reoccurrence of the mistake. He said: “if having reviewed what took place and I have to approach something similar in the future we would ensure the public’s expectation will be met.”

The minister indicated the purpose of his visit to the school was to help encourage Wallace, a 12 year-old form two student, to continue to excel. The athlete received her running spikes last month. She was successful in the South Regionals recently where she copped two gold medals for track and field. The blushing long-distance runner said she was excited and was surprised the minister would come especially to visit her at her school. Wallace’s form teacher, Leslie Anne Samuel, was responsible for the minister’s visit since she wrote an e-mail to him appealing for shoes for the promising athlete.