NTA leader Gary Griffith urged that sport be used to keep youngsters away from crime by imbuing them with character-building values, speaking at an NTA rally in San Fernando on April 9, ahead of the April 28 general election. He said neither the PNM nor UNC had ever spoken about sport in any major general election campaign.

"They see sport as an extra-curricular activity. They have never put sport as a prime activity.

"The only time it was ever done was LifeSport and we saw what happened there – $400 million pumped and wasted, given primarily to criminal elements, that had a by-product of over 40 lives being lost."