Aug. 25/2003: - People who want to bring down the tourism minister, Charles Savarin, are putting immense pressure on the government to come up with monies that it does not have for a proposed biking tournament, an informed source has contended.

    However, the people behind the much-hyped Tour de Dominica/Tour de Dominique have said that it was nothing but a business opportunity for the country.

    “Some (among us) feel that it is part of a move to bring Charles Savarin to his knees", said the source, who spoke to the Sun on condition of anonymity.

    “I’ve heard it said that we want to wipe out that grin from his face,’” added the source.

    “This is really, really, really not about Charles Savarin. If it is seen (by anyone) as a means to get at Savarin it is a messed up way to think. I see it as an opportunity,” said Sam Raphael, president of the Dominica Hotel and Tourism Association (DHTA) and the person who invited African-American events producer Renny Roker to develop an event to help Dominica’s tourism sector and economy.

    Roker has come with an impressive resume which includes a number of “firsts” for African-Americans in the entertainment industry, according to a web site dedicated to his work.

    These include the first African-American regular in a number one TV series, the "Gomer Pyle Show"; the first African-American to produce a sports series on ESPN: "BMX Racing" and the first African-American to produce a sports program on NBC: "America's Paradise Triathlon", St. Croix, USVI.

    “At the America's Paradise Triathlon on NBC, more than 85 countries participated and 37 languages were spoken. At Roker's first ESPN BMX World Championship, 5,000 youngsters from 56 countries participated in the world's largest and first international BMX championship,” stated the information on the site, http://www.teensonthegreen.com/founder.htm.

    Since word of the event began to make the rounds, there has been much discussion and an air of excitement about it even before the proposal reached the government, according to our source.

    “It’s getting so big that one almost feels that you have to do it (and it seems that) the Prime Minister has been pushed in a corner and we have to do it,” stated the source who added that the proposal has “really triggered something positive in people.”

    According to Roker, the biking challenge will present Dominica with “tremendous publicity” and an attraction that the rest of the world can attend.

    “We are bringing the foreign press to write stories about the preparation, showing the laying out the planning of the course and the location that is being picked. Right now Dominica needs something to generate real income and this is the kind of event that can do it,” he told the Sun in an interview.

    However, the event comes at a major financial cost which the country, now under International Monetary Fund (IMF) control, would be hard pressed to meet.

    For example, the government has been asked to contribute US$1.3 million dollars, beginning with a deposit of US$100,000 immediately “to get the ball rolling” and to secure its roll as host country.

    Roker said he believed that the government was able to raise that amount and all it would take “is a phone call by the right person to the right people.”

    However, the tourism minister has said “unequivocally, that there is not US$1.5 million dollar available to go to this or any such programme.”

    “In the first place, we have to understand that the government does not have one point five million US dollars for any project,” Savarin told the Sun, adding that the National Development Corporation (NDC)’s promotion budget is EC$1.4 million.

    “It (the biking challenge) is a wonderful idea and if the money were available, I would contribute the money towards the project. The fact of the matter is there is no such money available from the government,” the tourism minister emphasized.

    Savarin revealed that the NDC had written to Roker advising him that the government was prepared to facilitate the project by providing all the incentives that were needed but that it could not provide cash.

    “ The government support will be there with all the incentives it can give, but the question of cash…if you do not have the money to pay public servants and a number or commitments which already exist, the question of finding the additional money is not just possible,” he told the Sun.

    Asked whether he believed that some people were using the government’s inability to contribute cash towards the project to get at him, Savarin replied: “I have no doubt that there are those who are involved in such a campaign and would use any opportunity to engage in such a campaign.”