This was indicated by Dr Nyan Gadsby-Dolly, Minister of Community Development, Culture and Arts, as she disclosed declining or very stagnant tourist arrivals and dwindling audiences at Carnival events are what forced the Government to intervene in its affairs.
The minister was responding to an urgent question from Opposition Senator Wade Mark shortly before the adjournment of the Upper House on Tuesday on the issue of the confusion surrounding the roles of Pan Trinbago, Trinbago Unified Calypsonians Organisation (Tuco), the National Carnival Bandleaders Association (NCBA) and the National Carnival Commission (NCC) in the staging of Carnival.
Mark said in direct contravention to a Cabinet Minute of 1997 under the Basdeo Panday administration, the NCC seems to be the body in charge of collecting revenue from ticket sales with special interest groups relegated to only playing minor roles.
Mark said the Keith Rowley administration changed that paradigm after it assumed office in September 2015 and last year went a step further. “They took pan and kaiso away.”
Replies
The ONLY thing we have going for us is our Culture, so if the Administration is STUPID enough to lose that, then we are really in a MESS! The cost effect is a factor, everything is in US Dollars and way pass the amount any poor person can afford, along with the Crime situation! Mr Wade and his Past Administration, know why all of this is happening and enjoying the demise of our Culture because of their Greed for Power, they don't care who get hurt in the process!
When you trinis start behaving like decent humans, people will come. Man and woman getting mugged, killed, rape, etc. in trini these days, makes no sense spending your hard earned vacation money to in carnival these days. 101 times better if a foreigner take a 7 day cruise. Clean up your act trinis, and this is also the main reason why trini pan players do better in the USA. Safety first, the average trini can always ween their way around, or smell trouble and 'buss it', leaving the poor tourist to fend for themselves.
Tourist expect to see the steelband in carnival, few on the road. A parade of big trucks and a DJ that's hell bent on making you loose your hearing is not very appealing to tourist.
Carnival today is shitty, big time.