Karukera promoter: We did nothing wrong

President of Karukera One Love events, and promoter of the Karukera festival Thierry Reynaud, spoke out on the controversy surrounding the event on Friday afternoon.

He told reporters at the event in Maracas Bay, that while the attention placed on Minister in the Ministry of Education Dr Lovell Francis was unfortunate, he did not feel he acted inappropriately. He also denied reports that Francis was invited to Guadeloupe at his request.

"I honestly didn't know about the concerns against him (Francis) until I saw his response on Facebook," Reynaud said.

"I'm sorry about the concerns of the event, but I don't think we (the promoters) acted inappropriately. Dr Francis was invited to Guadeloupe at the request of the mayor of the city of Saint Francois in Guadeloupe not by any of the promoters."

Reynaud said the purpose of inviting TT ministers to Guadeloupe was to enhance diplomatic relations and improve development for both islands.

He also denied speaking with Francis since his visit to Guadeloupe in 2018, and said in their discussions Francis "spoke from the heart."

Francis visited Guadeloupe from August 16-20, 2018.

Concerns over the construction of a stage for the event began earlier this month where some questioned whether the promoters received proper clearance from various agencies.

The issue attracted the attention of the Prime Minister who said he felt that government "dropped their guard" by allowing Francis to visit Guadeloupe courtesy another party.

For the event itself, hundreds of patrons were present partying to the performances of the Caribbean's top soca acts.

The execution of the event itself was not without hiccups as patrons had to wait more than an hour for the doors of the venue to open.

Newsday spoke to an official who blamed the delay on a power outage on Thursday, delaying the work of technicians and sound engineers.

Despite this, patrons said they were not discouraged by the wait as they felt the live performances would be worth it.

Another issue for some patrons was the delay of shuttles taking them to the venue. Some complained that the buses were overheating and had to be delayed for up to 30 minutes to cool down.

Even with these inconveniences, patrons appeared to be in their glee by 4 pm as they enjoyed themselves, occasionally refreshing on food and drinks.