Employees of the Carifesta Secretariat and performers who are still awaiting payments for services rendered will be protesting this morning in front of the Ministry of Culture, Youth and Sport on Main Street. Almost two months have passed since the conclusion of the August 22-31 festival.
The protest is being organised by Ron Robinson who said that those who rendered services for Carifesta needed to be paid. Although he was unable to say exactly how many people were waiting to be paid, he said it was a significant number. Stabroek News has confirmed that the cast of Guyana’s signal dramatic presentation, The Legend of the Silk Cotton Tree, several junior employees at the Carifesta Secretariat and those who provided technical support at the various events are among those still to be paid.
Robinson said that whenever he contacted the ministry in recent weeks, he was told that he would be paid “next week”. He said that he was organising the protest because he is in “sympathy with a lot of people who really needed the money.” He said one parent told him that she needed the money to help pay for her daughter’s CXC examination fees.
Earlier this month, Godfrey Naughton and Sonia Yarde — two of the cast members of Guyana’s signal dramatic piece — protested in front of the ministry concerning the same issue of non-payment. According to them, under their contract with the ministry they were to be paid by September 8. They said that the payments for the cast members varied between $10,000 and $60,000.
Meanwhile, Naughton said that when he recently contacted the ministry concerning payment, he was told that he would have to wait. According to him, he was informed that the ministry had exceeded its budget and that the money for outstanding payments had to be taken from the Consolidated Fund. He was told that this needed the approval of Finance Minister Ashni Singh, who was out of the country at the time.
Naughton, however, said that attempts by the cast to help themselves have been rejected. He explained that the cast members had approached the CEO of the Carifesta Secretariat Nigel Dharamlall about performing the play for a second time, where the funds raised would be given to the performers. He said that the play’s director Al Creighton had agreed to work with the cast for this production. According to Naughton, Dharamlall said the idea was a good one but it needed the approval of Dr Frank Anthony, Minster of Culture, Youth and Sport. Stabroek News was told that the ministry has exclusive rights to the play. However, Naughton said, it appeared as if the minister was avoiding them, since whenever efforts were made to contact him, they proved to be futile.
Director of the play, Al Creighton said he did agree to direct the play a second time but was unaware of plans to use the production to raise funds.
Creighton said that after the festival, he and Dr Anthony discussed hosting the playing a second time, but the minister said certain things had to be settled before this was done. Creighton said that to date, there has not been any subsequent correspondence between them on the matter. (Mark McGowan)
