– contractor says obligations met

The company contracted to provide lighting, sound and other support services for the opening and closing ceremonies of Carifesta X, as well as for the religious events and concerts to the tune of $24.7 million, did not honour some of its obligations, a member of the secretariat staff has said.

The opening ceremony of the Carifesta X, in particular, has been widely criticised for not living up to expectations. This newspaper was told that this was mainly as a result of the failure of the contractor to fulfil the contractual agreement. The contractor, Swansea Industrial Associates, has since denied this.

Asked about what transpired, Malcolm De Freitas, who was part of the Carifesta Secretariat staff overseeing the arrangements for the opening ceremony, told Stabroek News that he was present at the meetings held between the Swansea team and members of the secretariat where a model of what was wanted was shown to the Swansea team. He mentioned that at one of those meetings a technical lighting consultant from Suriname was present.

De Freitas said it was made clear at those meetings that the main stage was not to be used for the performances at the opening, dubbed ‘Celegacy’, since it was obvious that it was too far from the stands. As such, the acts were to be conducted on the field and special lighting was to be used to highlight these performances.

According to him, the special lights were to be imported for the event but they never arrived. Eventually, two lights had to be borrowed from the National Cultural Centre, but these proved to be woefully inadequate. As a result of the poor lighting and sound, De Freitas said, the show was far less spectacular than it should have been. Had everything been in place, he said, ‘Celegacy’ would have been three times better than it was.

Stabroek News was also informed that a few days before the opening ceremony, an offer was made to have the lights brought in for a fraction of the rental price quoted by the contractor, but this offer was refused.

Based on the information this newspaper received, a contract was signed between Christian Duncan, Managing Director of Swansea Industrial Associates, on behalf of his company and Permanent Secretary of the Ministry of Culture, Youth and Sport, Keith Booker, on behalf of the ministry, for the provision of technical services for several Carifesta events slated for the National Stadium at Providence. According to sources, the sum of $24,720 000 was paid for the provision of light, stage gear, and requisite support services for the rehearsals and actual events for five activities. These included the opening and closing ceremonies, the Hindu and Christian events and the Carifesta super concert. This newspaper was informed that payment in full payment was made on the signing of this contract.

The technical contractor was expected to work closely with Artistic Director, Dr Paloma Mohamed, to ensure that the technical production and output were of an international quality. If the services and equipment mentioned in the performance schedule were not provided, the contract would have been regarded as being breached and hence there would have been a termination of the contract by the secretariat.

Reports are that the technical team did not adequately perform as stipulated in the contract, especially with regard to the lighting of the stadium for the opening ceremony.

Repeated efforts to contact Booker and Mohamed for comments proved futile.

When contacted, Minister of Culture, Dr Frank Anthony, said that all contracts signed for services during Carifesta were currently being reviewed, including the one with Swansea. He said though that he was not aware of what the position was with the Swansea contract and told this newspaper that the best person to contact was Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of the Carifesta Secretariat, Nigel Dharamlall.

When reached, Dharamlall said the secretariat was not responsible for dealing with the various contractual arrangements, since those agreements were made between the Ministry of Culture, Youth and Sport and the other parties. He said he was aware that all contractual arrangements made with external third parties were being reviewed by the ministry.

Dharamlall said that under the review, the quality of the services rendered would be examined and if these were determined to be inadequate, “requisite actions will be taken”. The CEO explained that these actions might include the institution of fines, rebates, compensation or litigation.

Asked specifically about the alleged breach of contract by Swansea and whether that company had been contacted about this, Dharamlall said he was unaware.

Contacted, Duncan said he had fulfilled all of his contractual obligations with regard to Carifesta and that to date he had not been contacted by the secretariat about any breaches. He said he was aware that rumours were being propagated but said that there was no validity to these claims.

However, this newspaper was shown a draft of a letter sent to Duncan alleging that a breach of contract had occurred and asking for compensation. The draft letter was dated August 28 and signed by Dharamlall.