THE SELF-ACCLAIMED poorest politician in the Caribbean, Hamilton Lashley will be richly rewarded by an international body for his sterling social initiatives.
Investigations by SUNSPORT revealed that Lashley was nominated by the executive board of the Barbados Olympic Association (BOA) for the prestigious Sports For Social Responsibility Award, which has been ratified by the International Olympic Committee (IOC).
Lashley, the long-standing Member of Parliament for St Michael South East since 1994, is set to receive the award on December 2 at a lavish dinner at Hilton Barbados.
When contacted yesterday, Lashley, who is Government’s advisor on social policy, declined to go into details until an official announcement was made.
He, however, admitted that he had heard about the nomination but was “humbled and surprised” that “the Rasta Man from the Pine would be so honoured”.
The IOC award is usually presented to an agency or individual for their Olympic ideals and Olympism by inspiring young people through sports. Last year, the Barbados Cadet Corps was the recipient of the award.
Lashley, a 60-year-old community worker, was a founding member of both the Regents Youth Group, and the Pinelands Creative Workshop.
He was a long-serving president of the former, which was known for its success in youth football.
A former minister of social care and poverty alleviation in the Barbados Labour Party Administration, one of his biggest social sporting projects was the establishment of the Barbados Senior Games in 2001. He was also founder of the Senior Citizens Drama Group.
Over the past two years, Lashley also pioneered the highly successful National Summer Camp Games which were staged at the National Stadium to capacity crowds.
Lashley is also the tournament co-ordinator of the ongoing inaugural David Thompson Memorial Constituency Councils Football Classic.
Among his other initiatives, Lashley established the West Indies Women’s Softball Cricket Tournament, which has been going on for ten years.
Last year, he also conceptualised the Bring Six And Come Cricket Tournament, which featured a number of regional teams and attracted players such as new West Indies “A” team cricketers Samuel Badree and Jason Mohammed from Trinidad and Tobago.
Earlier this year, Lashley forged a partnership between the Pinelands Cricket Academy and the Powergen Club of Trinidad and Tobago while being an advisor for the Caribbean Scalectrix Championship, headed by Darnley Callender.
He also started the Inter Housing Schemes Youth Soccer Championship last year.