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
