by Joan Rampersad - Trinidad Newsday
Despite calls from regional heads of Pan Trinbago for Minister of Community Development, Culture and the Arts Dr Nyan Gadsby-Dolly to get the National Carnival Commission (NCC) to pay panmen directly, she has not budged from her position.
At present they are due to be paid their fees for 2018 and outstanding prize money through the organisation’s central executive.
Gadsby-Dolly said the situation with Pan Trinbago is unfortunate, but the pan players are not the only people owed.
She said: “It is much more complex than that. The outstanding bills from Panorama 2018 are an estimated $8 million over the Pan Trinbago 2018 allocation.
“Under these circumstances, Pan Trinbago has been written to repeatedly by the NCC asking for its payment plan to defray these expenses with the remaining portion of the allocation. They have not yet responded.”
Replies
Based on her response, the Minister may quite likely have read this...
The Battle for 14-17 Park Street, Port of Spain heads back to court...
The very last line in the article says it all :
"Pan Trinbago had a governance issue, she said."
Merrytones , sometimes you sound like one of us old ex-pats :) .
Back in the day , panmen knew how to hustle !
We'd hustle local businessmen and contractors in the community for support with such things as paint , funds ,loans of equipment like welders etc.
Seems like back then the bands had more community involvement and support.
( Incidentally , I always considered pushing pans ( which I did even before I played ) not as drudgery or labor as some see it today , but as one of the ways the community showed love and support to the local steelband )
We may have even been lucky to get a couple paying gigs , and together with band fees from masqueraders we might even have a few dollars to share after carnival.
Fire Services dance at the San Fernando Bypass on Carnival Sunday night onto the road at J'ouvert morning was almost a ritual for Marabella people and Southern Marines in the early sixties.
And we also had fun.
I hate to say it , but seems like today some of us have lost our initiative and gotten lazy, and are quite content to only focus on panorama and wait for that government check.
So is in 2004 that the Government started the payments (Under Patrick Arnold) to PANORAMA PLAYERS?
merrytonestothbone better give us a little background on how it started and how much the first payment was and how the private arrangement between STEELBANDS and Players worked before that. And how many STEELBANDS participated in 2004 in how many categories. A clear and concise report that people could reference.
Keith Diaz rack up $45,000,000 in debt from 2009 to 2018 -- whey all that money gone, boy?
bugs: It is nice to have the GOVERNMENT handing you FREE money and the REFEREES giving you FREE CALLS and players on the other team who DO NOT know the score in the game!!!
JR was suffering from a concussion. Clay Thompson kicked him in the head with his knee in the first quarter.
Dos ref real teef we last night. Some Pan Trinbago moves...
bugs
WST has an interesting "Panorama TNT Review" page here...check it out when you have a chance...go to 2005 and read the rules and regulation section regarding eligibility of players etc...
But Merrytones
The Queen never paid for bg plantins. Now she have to pay. BP use to get Trinidad oil for free, Now they have to act like they paying. Things change
bugs
Well there you have it bro...At the end of the day panmen/women never play pan for the government either... If you hire me to do work on your house will you demand that your neighbour to pay me? Who pays steelbands' tuners? The government too?
I know I may come across as anti-panmen/women on this issue...But I'm only being real. As the old adage says..."Every day the bucket goes to the well...One day the bottom will fall out."... The free money can never continue forever...
LET STEELBANDS FIND MONEY TO PAY DEY PLAYERS....WHO USED TO PAY PAN MEN BEFORE 2004?
Can T&T continue to finance Carnival and Panorama at current rates as the country makes big cuts in all other services, notably, Education, Health and Jobs?
Do Carnival and Pan people believe they have any responsibility to participate in addressing the problem and finding solutions?
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