The Progressive Liberal Party is disappointed and concerned about the decision to cancel the hosting of Carifesta X in The Bahamas previously scheduled for 2008.  Our concerns are firstly the damage to our international reputation and the reliability of commitments made by Governments of The Bahamas to other Governments.  Secondly, we are concerned about the effect that this will have on cultural development within our country.  The Minister of State for Culture has questions to answer with regard to the conflicting statements he made to the House of Assembly on this matter.   This is a matter of public importance.

On 6th June 2007 in his Budget statement, the Minister of State for Culture made the following statements:
We [his ministry] want to use this [cultural] calendar to legitimize our pledge to make The Bahamas the festival capital of this region using Carifesta X as the springboard…

…Had the FNM not been victorious at the polls I fear that the festival would not have taken place. As with everything else in the Cultural Affairs Division of the Office of the former Prime Minister, enough attention was not given to this project... But thanks to the people of The Bahamas and their choice of renewed trust over broken trust the project is now on track.

Mr. Speaker this budget reflects the necessary preparatory work for Carifesta X, including the establishment of a Secretariat which will administer the Festival, evaluate potential event venues, and build the framework necessary to ensure that all stakeholder strategies and activities fit into a single vision  and common goal that will guarantee that we are indeed “ready” to host this Festival.

It is clear then that on the 6th June 2007, the planning and preparatory work for the Festival had been acknowledged by the Minister and the FNM administration.  At that time the Minister made a public commitment that the Government would be ready in 2008 to host the Festival.

On the 23rd July some six weeks later the Minister said the following in the House of Assembly:

...Carifesta is a function of Caricom.  Caricom decides who hosts it and when they host it. The Bahamas in 2005 under the Christie Administration decided to take on Carifesta X which is to be held in 2008. The only thing Mr. Speaker, the government did other than agree to host it was to send a delegation to Carifesta 9 to participate, and a delegation of technical persons to review what they had in place; that’s a good start…

Not a single penny is spent in addition to that in furtherance of Carifesta X.  There is no infrastructure nowhere in place for Carifesta X, 2008… We took office in May 2007 two years after they decided to take on Carifesta X and they have done nothing to improve the major staging site; they have done nothing to improve our National Performance Arts Centre…

I had to explain to them[persons enquiring about the decision to cancel]  that as part of the host agreement that is to be signed by the host government, which I must add was not signed up to 2nd   May 2007, there are certain stipulations that had to be done two years, eighteen months, twelve months and so on.  Mr. Deputy not one of these requirements were met.

The question must be asked of the Minister, what happened between the 6th June 2007 and the 23rd July six weeks later.  His first statement clearly sought to blame the PLP for alleged lack of preparedness for Carifesta but he nevertheless assured the public that we would be, in his words, “ready”.  He made no mention of infrastructural issues on 6th June, or of the “fact” that the host agreement had not been signed, nor that the Performing Arts Centre had not been improved. To the extent that he acknowledged in his 6th June* statement a lack of preparedness, he assured the country that The Bahamas would be ready. Yet six weeks later, those are suddenly reasons for canceling our hosting the festival.

The Minister and the Government have done a grave disservice to this country by yet again reneging on a commitment made by the Government of The Bahamas.  This is now a familiar pattern of this government. This time their decision is not only a snub to our domestic community but to our international reputation as well.

In light of the inconsistencies of the Government’s statements, we suggest that the Government must review this decision and reverse itself as it has had to do in other matters in which it has acted with haste and without proper consultation with the interest groups involved.

We are bound to reveal the following inconsistencies and the facts that we have uncovered in the Minister’s public statements as follows:
The Caricom Host Agreement for Carifesta, to which he referred, has not been finalized by Caricom itself and thus was not yet in the hands of The Bahamas government either before the General Election or indeed up to the time the decision to cancel the hosting as made. Therefore the question of signing such an agreement did not arise. This then was not the fault of the PLP government as the Minister alleges.
We are advised that the agreement, which was the first of its kind, a pilot project of Caricom and a work in progress, and that The Bahamas was supposed to be the test case.

Further, we are advised, on the issue of venues, that 12 stages are needed to meet the needs of Carifesta: three inside stages and nine outside stages.  We have an abundance of outside venues and with proper planning and  an effort to get it done, the cultural community is of the view that it can be done.
With respect to the indoor stages, three potentially excellent venues are available. The College of The Bahamas has a newly refurbished state of the art indoor theatre (on which $2.3 million were spent).  The Dundas Centre for the Performing Arts needs upgrading but is available and the work can be done with a grant from the Government.  The Centre for the Performing Arts also needs upgrading but it was reviewed in February by the Interim Festival Directorate of Carifesta.  The work required could be completed within the 13 months left prior to the start of Carifesta.
If the government that promised to move decisively had acted when it came to office, it would have had 15 months to do the work. Instead, it appears that they tarried because they did not have the political will to do it, and the result is an embarrassment to our country.

Also, it hardly lies in the mouth of an FNM Minister to talk about the inadequacies of the Centre for the Performing Arts. When a previous FNM government bought the facility during their term in office, it was the PLP and the cultural community that pointed out that the facility was inadequate. The FNM did nothing about that in its first or second terms.

In terms of outdoor venues, we have Clifford Park, Arawak Cay, the band shell on grounds of the College of The Bahamas, the Pavilion at Fox Hill and many more.

The Minister in his 23rd July statement sought to blame the PLP because a national stadium has not been built, suggesting that this was another reason we could not host the event. We are advised with regard to all the issues of venues that a national stadium is not required. Clifford Park is an adequate venue and all of the outdoor and in door venues can be prepared within the 13-month period left to prepare for the Festival.

The Minister in speaking about Guyana, the country that is now to be the host,  said the following “  I discovered that Guyana will be willing to host it but at a lower level than The Bahamas will be willing to host it in the same 2008 period.” That means it is possible for The Bahamas to have taken a similar decision to adjust the level of the Festival to meet the time period and resources within which it had to work, if indeed the time period to prepare was an issue.

It is also less than frank of the Minister to say that it is Caricom which decides who will host the Festival and who will not.  The facts are that the Heads of Government of Caricom decide who will host and if the Head of Government of The Bahamas indicates that The Bahamas cannot host the event then the other heads agree to take up the slack.  The issue then squarely falls into the lap of Prime Minister Ingraham who told his colleagues that The Bahamas could not be ready.  We believe that this is untrue and that what was lacking was simply the political will.  The FNM must stop trying to blame the PLP for matter that fall squarely in their lap.  The responsibility for the cancellation is the FNM’s and no one else’s.

The Government must come clean on this issue.  This is not a matter of FNM or PLP.  The region sees only that a commitment of The Bahamas. The government should revisit the issue and reverse themselves as they have done on so many other issues in which they have acted in haste and then had to reverse themselves.