Picewell Forbes
Opposition Spokesman on Culture
Thursday 26th July 2007
Presented on his behalf by Dr. Bernard Nottage MP
 

The news that the FNM administration has cancelled the hosting of Carifesta X has come both as a shock and then as an embarrassment to our country.  My canvassing of the cultural community shows that many of them are seriously disappointed in this news, given the fact that the Minister of State for Culture had so recently and so publicly given assurances that The Bahamas would be hosting the Festival.

This morning a number of Bahamian artists have begun a round of appearances on radio talk shows to make known their deep disappointment at what has transpired.  This is quite a serious matter of trust for the Minister of State who in his Budget statement on 6th July 2007 said the following: “I hope that both the cultural community and my friends and neighbours in Golden Isles feel secure that their interests are in capable hands.”

I cannot see how the cultural community can feel secure when six weeks after making big promises to host this important Festival the Minister has unceremoniously changed his mind and his government has cancelled its commitment to the international community but most importantly to our Bahamian artists.

The Festival would have been an opportunity for The Bahamas to showcase its cultural talents to the regional and international communities.  It would have been an opportunity for us to learn and see the other developments in the region.   It would have been, by the Minister's own Budget statement, an opportunity to improve our cultural infrastructure with a permanent impact on our society.

I have spoken to a number of artists on this subject and they are very concerned. I wish to encourage all of them to make their voices known on this issue.  I want them to know that we of the Progressive Liberal Party believe that this festival should go ahead and had we been the Government we would have ensured that Carifesta would have been celebrated in The Bahamas.

I do not agree with the Minister's assertion that no preparation was made for hosting this event.  He himself said that the Budget contained figures to pay for a Secretariat and to pay for the preparatory work.  That Budget was not just prepared when he came to office.  It was prepared prior to his coming there when the PLP was in office.

I am advised that The Bahamas has been sitting on the Caricom body responsible for Carifesta since 2005 and that meetings have been held, site visits have taken place and planning was well underway.  Additionally, private co-sponsorship had been solicited and all that the cultural community was awaiting was the final decision of this Government to say it would go ahead.  Now their hopes have been tragically dashed.

In fact, the last public official act of the late Winston Saunders was to accept the hand over from the last hosts of the Festival, Trinidad and Tobago, in 2005, with The Bahamas undertaking to host the Festival in 2008.

The Christie administration also sent a chartered Bahamasair jet to Trinidad and Tobago  with a contingent of 128 artists and managers last year and spent some half a million dollars to send a contingent there to see the last festival, to witness the sites and get some sense of what would be required.  Now all of that money has gone down the drain simply because this FNM Government does not have the political will to carry the solemn commitment of the Government of The Bahamas to its logical conclusion.
This is a sad day for us all.