Carifesta X… Response from the public speaks for itself

Carifesta X… Response from the public speaks for itself – Dr. Anthony

Aug 28, 2008 News

…Minister ‘unaware of poor transportation arrangements for dignitaries’

It has been six days now since the opening of the tenth Caribbean Festival of Arts (Carifesta X) in Guyana, an event which has so far captured the attention of many Guyanese and attracted a fair amount of overseas visitors, excluding delegations.
When questioned on whether or not Guyana’s hosting of the event has been successful thus far, Minister of Culture, Youth and Sport, Dr. Frank Anthony stated that, “the response from the public speaks for itself.”
He added that the Carifesta Secretariat along with the other collaborating agencies has been doing a great job so far as it relates to the organization of the various scheduled events.
Minister Anthony opined that the public’s response to Carifesta X in Guyana is ‘phenomenal,’ with a tremendous number of persons displaying interest in some of the plays that have been taking place at the Theatre Guild as well as the Grand Market at the Sophia Exhibition Centre.

However, while Minister Anthony is hailing the success of the event, some ‘very important persons’ that arrived specifically for the occasion are not so happy, particularly with the transportation arrangements that have been put in place by the organizers.
A reliable source has informed this newspaper that some visiting dignitaries arrived at the Cheddi Jagan International Airport and had to ‘hitch’ rides to the city, as there were no liaison officials from the Foreign Affairs Ministry to assist them in getting to Georgetown or to inform them where they had to stay during the event.
Kaieteur News understands that some of these dignitaries are extremely upset about the treatment they have received. One such individual has since decided not to grant any interviews to journalists since these issues, if raised, could cause unnecessary problems.
When this newspaper contacted Minister Anthony for a comment on the issue, he said that he is not aware of such a situation.
The Minister explained that his Ministry is in possession of a schedule of all the delegations that have arrived in Guyana and they were all adequately greeted at the airport.
Dr. Anthony said that special teams were stationed at the airport on a 24-hour basis where they welcomed all the delegations and the liaison officers would escort them to the vehicles that were arranged to take them to Georgetown.
He noted that this incident might have occurred to persons who arrived unannounced, but even this was planned for, the Minister said.
He explained that the Ministry had a back-up plan in place for those persons who arrived unexpectedly, as there were additional vehicles to transport them to Georgetown.
With such arrangements in place, Minister Anthony noted that this should have ensured that everyone was well taken care of.