THA assistant secretary: Are returns on Carnival investment worthwhile?

Assistant Secretary in the THA Division of Tourism, Culture, Antiquities and Transportation Niall George is questioning whether the returns on the investment into national Carnival are worthwhile.

He was speaking on the Tobago Updates morning show on March 7.

This year, there was no parade of the bands in Roxborough, much to the chagrin of Roxborough/Argyle electoral representative Watson Duke, who plans to raise the matter at plenary this month.

There was also a sprinkling of bands in Scarborough on Tuesday.

Minority Leader Kelvon Morris and the Innovative Democratic Alliance have accused the THA of abandoning national Carnival in favour of propping up the October celebrations.

George said the private sector and communities across the island are being asked to take ownership of some of the Carnival events in Tobago.

George said, “Change is constant, and some things have to change. We have to be realistic about some of the conversations that we have to have if we are to move forward. If we aren’t seeing any growth, is it worth the while to be investing in?

"It’s declared as a national festival and the THA cannot stop anything from happening at national Carnival time. We are also asking the private sector and some of the communities to own some of these things that are happening during the national Carnival.”

The THA will fund and supports the activities, while the National Carnival Commission funds competitions such as calypso and pan.

“We have to make some decisions in terms of the direction we are going with these things. Cultural retention is very important, but at what cost.”

He said the budget for this year’s festival was $5.8 million, noting that in all of the planning for Carnival, it started with consultation.

“When you see some of the comments and some of the outcomes, it’s disappointing because some people did not take the opportunity to come to these consultations to view (sic) their opinions and we would have planned based upon what would have taken place in the consultations, what would have taken place in previous years and we would have made decisions, financial decisions and otherwise based on that.

"And then afterwards, we would have heard outcries from different groups saying this, saying they didn’t get that. It is very difficult for us to know what is needed if you aren’t saying it to us.”