Instead of malicious character assault, disclose facts about expenditure of CARIFESTA funds

Sep 19, 2008 Letters

DEAR EDITOR,
My letter to your newspaper of 10th September, 2008, simply invited the CEO and the Artistic Director of the CARIFESTA Secretariat and the Permanent Secretary to the Minister of Culture, Youth & Sport, all of whom had varying degrees of responsibility and authority over expenditure for CARIFESTA, to make full disclosure on exactly what happened to the very large sums of money expended on the lights and sound and other equipment which failed to be delivered for the opening and closing ceremonies.

Instead of public and transparent disclosure of the facts, we get a letter over a signature published in your newspaper on 13th September, 2008, which, judging from both its tone and content, could have been contrived by the CARIFESTA Secretariat, making a number of extremely disparaging remarks with regard to my motives and slanderous and malicious accusations with respect to my character, which are entirely false.

I should be directing my lawyer to sue your newspaper for libel and inviting your newspaper to prove in court the calumny you have published, rather than respond, but, we know that the justice system provides little or no protection against libel in Guyana, so I have decided to respond.

My wife Gem has already answered the ugly and ingracious attempt to make her a scapegoat. She had nothing to do with the authorising of millions of dollars for contracts which were never delivered on.

Publication of those contracts, who prepared them, who approved them, who signed them and benefited from them is what the public is entitled to know.

Hurling abuse at me will not cover up the truth nor divert attention from the corruption which appears to have taken place.

My wife was offered US$2,000 per month when asked to be the CEO and turned it down. She was eventually paid US$500 per month to serve as Production Manager of the opening ceremony, Stage Manger of the closing ceremony and for planning the production management teams to support the number of productions performed by visiting delegations during the festival.

What the public would like to know is the salaries or fees paid to the Chief Executive Officer and the Artistic Director and, indeed, a number of other senior persons within the CARIFESTA Secretariat.

When the Secretariat announced the hair-brained decision to give away free tickets, I wrote the Minister of Culture, Youth & Sport expressing my concern that a considerable number of important persons in our society deserving of invitations to the opening cococo ceremony had contacted both Gem and myself, pointing out that no arrangements appeared to have been made in this regard.

These were persons, for instance, who had made significant contributions to the development of culture in our society and other persons who were involved in providing appreciable support for CARIFESSTA, all being left out in the cold. I also spoke to the Permanent Secretary about this who explained to me that it was out of his hand.

I did not, at any time as the letter falsely claims, demand for myself and several friends, VIP passes and invitations to the Presidential Box.

In fact, I was invited to both the opening and closing ceremonies to the Presidential Stand, from which, incidentally, one needed a pair of binoculars to see anything on the stage caused by the absence of lighting and the staging of the performances by the Director.

Finally, I have not, nor has the public, been made aware of any litigation, pending or otherwise, preventing those in charge of CARIFESTA from making full public disclosure.

The letter, written, according to its signature, by a “volunteer from USA by CARIFESTA X”, is sufficiently well informed to tell us that Paloma Mohamed has addressed these issues in the only way she could by speaking off the record and writing to the Permanent Secretary because of an investigation which is taking place.

If that is the case, then the Minister should announce that an investigation is taking place, conducted by whom, about what and when we should expect its conclusion. All we have so far is silence.

Too much taxpayers money has been spent and too much already revealed about its mismanagement and even its corruption for this to be hidden from the public or, worse, swept under the carpet, for very much longer.
Kit Nascimento

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Instead of malicious character assault, disclose facts about expenditure of CARIFESTA funds

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