The CARIFESTA X ticket distribution system lacks intelligent planning

Aug 22, 2008 Letters

DEAR EDITOR,
On Wednesday, August 20, a friend and I decided to go the National Cultural Centre in pursuit of tickets for CARIFESTA X.

We arrived in front of the Cultural Centre at approximately 12:30hrs to a long queue of persons also waiting for CARIFESTA X tickets.

My friend then suggested that we check the Cliff Anderson Sports Hall, with the optimism of having less of a hassle at the Sports Hall.

The exact opposite was found to be true as the queue at the Sports Hall was longer than that of the Cultural Centre.

It must also be noted that at both venues, the queues were moving at snail’s pace in the heat of the day.

As we both had other essential things to do, we decided on visiting the CARIFESTA X Secretariat the following day.

With the optimism and confidence that we would obtain tickets, on Thursday, August 21, I and a group of friends set out for the CARIFESTA X Secretariat. We arrived there at approximately 7:30hrs to a queue of approximately one hundred persons who were also hoping to obtain tickets.

As time passed, the number of persons queuing at the Secretariat increased, some even taking time off from their jobs.

Rumours that no tickets would be distributed there began to circulate. However, the increasing crowd continued to endure the heat of the morning sun, patiently and confidently waiting for the much coveted tickets.

At approximately 9:40hrs an individual from the Secretariat’s compound came outside and posted a handwritten notice on the gate informing us that no tickets would be distributed at the said location that day.

The tragedy is not that we were unable to receive tickets at that location, but rather, that the infant minded geniuses waited so long before officially notifying those present at the Secretariat that their patient waiting and efforts to get there were nothing more than abortive.

Such a notice should have been posted earlier in the morning so that when persons arrived, they would not have wasted their invaluable time, bur rather, try another location or carry on with their other commitments.

Many Guyanese indicated that they would have preferred to pay for their tickets and evade the distress, embarrassment and loss of invaluable time, all suffered at the incompetence of the organising committee for CARIFESTA X.

The gesture to give tickets free to Guyanese is a commendable one. However, for such a system to be effectively implemented and monitored, it requires intelligent planning and competent individuals to see it to fruition.

To compensate for the devoid of organised minds in the organising committee, tickets should have been sold at a low cost, possibly at hundreds of locations across Guyana.
This also should have been done at least two weeks in advance for the opening ceremony.

Now, many young people in particular will miss the opportunity to be physically present at CARIFESTA X.

Ganesh Gupta