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The public must be told what was done with the money spent on Carifesta

Dear Editor,
Carifesta has come and gone. It was, for Guyana, judged by comparative standards a success. But those who planned and administered it must now be held publicly accountable for the expenditure attendant on our holding it.

Millions of our dollars were spent. It was a major, by our standards, a monumental undertaking. Its conduct must, therefore, be evaluated and reported on to the people whose money has been spent, ours.

Simply put, did we get a reasonable return on this huge investment? Was our money properly managed and efficiently and honestly used?
I raise this because, at least in one case, there has been a glaring case of financial mismanagement and, it seems, gross extravagance with, to date, no public disclosure.
It was obvious to almost anyone attending the opening and closing ceremonies that a great deal was wrong with the lighting and the sound. To date, however, the Artistic Director, Paloma Mohamed, who welcomed the media during the festival, has now closed her door to the media and remains silent, offering no public explanation. She has, in fact, behaved as though she owes none.

Searching further for an answer, the media met with equivocation from the Chief Executive Officer of Carifesta, Nigel Dharamlall, and much the same from the Minister of Culture, Youth and Sport, Frank Anthony.

Thanks, however, to the Stabroek and Kaieteur News and Capitol News, we have learnt that some G$25 million was paid in full and in advance to Swansea to provide the lighting and sound for these ceremonies. A relatively junior official in the Carifesta Secretariat, Malcolm de Freitas, no doubt disgusted, blew the whistle while Mohamed refused to speak on the record and Dharamlall dissimulated.

We are talking here about public money, taxpayers’ money, your money and mine that just about four people had control over and were trusted with the responsibility of deciding on how much to spend and on what to spend it. The four, up to now, have refused to hold themselves publicly accountable.

There is also the Permanent Secretary, Keith Booker, of the ministry who is ultimately administratively responsible for finances. He was a little more, but only a little more, forthcoming, admitting that the matter of the contract with Swansea has been referred to the Attorney General’s Office, implying that legal action is being contemplated against the company for failing to deliver on its contractual obligations for which, inexplicably, it had been paid these large sums in advance and in full.
According to the Stabroek News, the ministry has written Swansea claiming breach of contract and demanding a refund. Swansea’s Managing Director, Christian Duncan, has denied any wrongdoing and claims to have delivered in full on his contract.

If so, then what happened to the special effects lighting, the follow spots, the on and under stage lighting, the ultra-violet lighting intended to display the Amerindian petroglyphs artistically painted on the grass fronting the stage at a cost exceeding a million dollars which were never seen. Instead, the producers, in desperation, were forced to floodlight the entire stadium, leaving in ruin the planned artistry of the show. As for the sound, the world heard and we listened in shame.

From all the accounts I have heard, almost all of this hugely expensive equipment was rentable at considerably less cost, but those with the authority to approve contracts and sign off on payments ignored the advice of those with the knowledge and experience of theatrical production and who were expected to deliver the performance.

To make matters worse, the audio headsets vital for the stage managers, technical managers and MCs to use for directing the performance, arrived at the last moment, were insufficient in number, many were inoperable and, on the closing night, were not available, making the job of managing the production a nightmare. This too needs explaining.
The Minister, who presided politically over all of this, has also remained silent, or almost. When approached by the Stabroek for an explanation, he acknowledged only that the matter was being reviewed, but said that he was unaware of the details. He referred the reporter to the CEO who referred the reporter back to the ministry.

I waited and waited for the public to be told the truth by those in charge, but the arrogance of silence has prevailed. It has immensely disturbed me and has prompted this letter. The Minister, the Permanent Secretary, the Chief Executive Officer and the Artistic Director, all of whom had varying degrees of direct responsibility and authority for the commitment of millions of dollars of our money in expenditure on this affair and all of Carifesta, seem perfectly content to remain unanswerable to the public. It is just not good enough. We must be told what was done with our money, by whom and why.
Yours faithfully,
Kit Nascimento

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17 Responses to “The public must be told what was done with the money spent on Carifesta”

Arnold
on September 10th, 2008 8:42 am

Freedom of speech will always be allowed in democratic nation of ours today.

The public will surely have to know, what has been done with the money……The defaulting contractors will have to refund or pay the consequences for sure…..

In pre ‘92 times for querryig the government you would of had a good fright……and you of all persons knows that well…..being a Member of that Band-wagon………..

[Reply to this]
michael tannassee
on September 10th, 2008 10:28 am

…….. damn ! Arnold ,, i couldn’t have said it better,,,, what a shameless display of
seeking transparency in light of ,, the overwhelming connivance by the author of the missive ,, which out of disgust i did not read ,, but from the caption to the letter ,, i thought is was the PNC ,, but the author ,, is 6 and the pnc is half dozen ,, some say same difference !……..

[Reply to this]
GREG
In reply to the above comment on September 11th, 2008 8:00 pm:
I surely did not expect you (Michael) to accept that response from Arnold. The response, in ridiculing the messenger, is an attempt at diverting from facing the facts and realities in the era of the new dawn. Carifesta presented the opportunity for the unaccountable movement of a huge amount of cash. Anyone who is in line with the concept of the “new dawn” would expect accountability and therefore would not subscribe to the above opinions.

There were a lot of irregularities as is expected in this new dawn Guyanese culture. Investigations will go no where because if it does a whole lot of people will revealed to be crooks but not necessarily end up in jail.

[Reply to this]
Son of Murrow
on September 10th, 2008 10:31 am

You know what: This has nothing to with freedom of speech or who was on which bandwagon, or whatever. It all boils down to the fact that people need to know where their tax dollars went, particularly in light of the shoddy way the festival was organized. It’s as simple as that.

[Reply to this]
Professor & CEO, Dr. Shamir Andrew Ally, Pennsylvania, USA
on September 10th, 2008 11:45 am

Guyana stalwart Kit…..case well presented with data.

Dr. Paloma Mohamed…..a quick response…we are waiting.

CEO Nigel…just give the facts.

Minister Dr. Frank Anthony, at the recent PPP/C Congress, YOU were voted a RISING STAR….do not blemish your star, with this event. Do ensure a PROMPT REPLY to Kit as the Minister, with FULL RESPONSIBILITY.

All overpayments, should be REPAID.

[Reply to this]
toronto girl
In reply to the above comment on September 13th, 2008 6:01 am:
Good for you Professor. You took our advise…By the way Yesu Persaud is already a CCH, years ago. You claim to know this gentleman so well, how come you didn’t know this. I will tell you what he is Professor,CCH,FCCA, FRSA, FBIM, and now Dr. Toronto Girl….

[Reply to this]
ink09
on September 10th, 2008 11:55 am

Good luck to Kit and anyone else who believe the government will ever tell them anything about how the money was spent. Schools need repairs, helicopters need repairs, boats need to be supplied to fight piracy, police need pay raise, police need better equipment, police need training, public servants need benefits etc. and the government spent hundreds of millions of dollars on carifesta. Makes me wonder about that economics degree.

[Reply to this]
Arnold
on September 10th, 2008 5:29 pm

michael tannassee, Son of Murrow,
In pre 92 era you could not, or with really Brave Heart —-dare—-questioned the Government of their spendings….. (like the article above of which we are commenting) 1::So how this dos not Implicates freedom of speech?

2::I did say that the Government has to SHOW WHAT WAS DONE WITH THE MONEY!
and the Defaulters will have to Refund or be CASTIGATED……..

Or I have to see things you’ll do?

Mis Amigos……….

[Reply to this]
evileyes
In reply to the above comment on September 11th, 2008 10:34 am:
Arnold did you say “pre 92″ you bet everyone could talk and question things–but they had to do it out of the country–not from withing guyana …yuh hit the nail smack on the head bro.hahaahaha

[Reply to this]
Irreverend
In reply to the above comment on September 12th, 2008 9:08 am:
post 92 dem pramise abee dat dem gun be akountable. wha happen to dat pramise. why yuh gat fuh remind abee about pre 92. keep yuh pramise and DO BETTA!
michael tannassee
on September 10th, 2008 5:44 pm

Wasn’t there a call for the President’s head when the ill - bred poet with the noble laurels like a halo — from one of the rock out croppings in the c’bean sea — was shouting him down to make more money available for the arts and culture ,, don’t misconstrue ,, this to mean ,, that im against transparency ,,– my cause is for the square pegs in round hole to go ! ,, since that is the largest hole in the wall of waste –,, and my resentment is abt the person who after consorting with the dictator and the royal court jesters ,, here he is now like the saint he’s trying to be for karma’s sake ,, is on the pulpit and delivering a sermon abt ,, transparency ,,,,, i shudder to think of the control he was under during those days ????????????

[Reply to this]
David EA Jenkins
on September 10th, 2008 8:52 pm

I am extremely disgusted with people like Kit N who knows very well that an audit of the whole CARIFESTA project must be conducted before any segment of the pie chart can be examined individually.

[Reply to this]
evileyes
on September 11th, 2008 8:03 am

KIT::::THE DOUGH WAS SPENT ON CARIFEST X IN CASE U DIDNT NO

[Reply to this]
sly25
In reply to the above comment on September 12th, 2008 12:05 am:
well for your info Mr. kit…. the Honorable Minister has declared that their will be an audit… no need to loose anymore hair.

[Reply to this]
Irreverend
on September 12th, 2008 9:06 am

Wait, wait wait. This is who? KIT! Kit Babumushai! Where you been all this time Bhai. Why you didn’t call for more openness on the Queens Atlantic deal, the Marriott Hotel deal , the Buddy Hotel imbroglio and all them other hidden financial mysteries? Remember that Stabroek news cartoon that showed you jumping from a palm tree into hic cup. Ah, the eternal chameleon.

[Reply to this]
sly25
on September 13th, 2008 1:26 am

like we does seh a country side “seven years na too much fuh wash speck off ah bird neck”.

[Reply to this]
ALYSSA FORBES
on September 18th, 2008 9:30 pm

INSTEAD OF CONCENTRATING ON THE MONEY, GUYANESE NEED TO FOCUS ON WHAT THE PEOPLE FROM THE VARIOUS COUNTRIES THAT CAME HERE HAVE TO SAY ABOUT US. WILL THEY SAY POSITIVE THINGS OR NEGATIVE THINGS? FOR SURE NOTHING GOOD HAS BEEN SAID AS YET ESPECIALLY CONCERNING TICKETS. THINK ABOUT IT, WE NEEDED THOSE PEOPLE TO SPREAD THE GOOD NEWS ABOUT GUYANA AND MAYBE FINALLY THE TOURISM SECTOR COULD HAVE HAD THE BOOST THEY REALLY NEED.

[Reply to this]