Panorama bands to pay remittance cheques

KRISTI-MARIE MADRAY

Pan Trinbago has agreed to give bands participating in the National Panorama competition a lump sum from which the band leaders would pay remittance cheques to their players. Yesterday, at a meeting of single pan band representatives at the VIP Lounge, Grand Stand, Queen’s Park Savannah, Pan Trinbago president Keith Diaz said participating bands must hand in a list of the names of the players on the day of the competition. A lump sum, determined by the number of players, will be given to each band and the remittance cheques are expected to be paid from that.

The players remittance programme, nicknamed “The Forteau Plan”, was designed by Pan Trinbago secretary Richard Forteau. Since its development, there have been numerous discussions among the National Carnival Commission (NCC), the Ministry of Community Development, Culture and the Arts, and Pan Trinbago about the sums of the remittance cheques. Prior to the decision to have the bands issue the cheques, individual remittances were determined by the government at a sum of $1000 which was decreased to $500 in 2017. The figure of the lump sum is still being determined by the NCC and Pan Trinbago as their meeting was postponed to today.

In a previous interview with Newsday last Friday, Diaz said that the players remittance “was always a decision made by the minister in charge of culture.” He continued, “It is high time they give more consideration to the pan players. They are not getting corporate assistance and still have to make music for the festival. The remittance is not a salary, it is just a stipend to help players with the cost of travelling to the various panyards every night. They do not get any work to play in fetes, so we have to help them.”