IDA: October carnival poorly planned

INNOVATIVE Democratic Alliance (IDA) political leader Dr Denise Tsoiafatt Angus believes Tobago’s third annual October carnival has been poorly planned.

Earlier this week, Tobago Festivals Commission Ltd CEO Kern Cowan announced that some $9 million has been pumped into event. Of this, $2 million was allocated for stakeholders, including Pan Trinbago, the Trinbago Unified Calypsonians Organisation and bandleaders.

The announcement came after repeated calls from stakeholders for the Tobago House of Assembly to reveal how much would be allocated for this year’s event. But the carnival itinerary was released several weeks ago.

On the Tobago Updates morning show on October 17, Tsoiafatt Angus said preparations for the upcoming event could have been better.

“I think we should have been in a much better place, because this is the third time and an opportunity every time to get it right and do things better,” she said. “I was a bit disappointed, like many others, that we started off with, again, poor planning and execution of the activities that are very last-minute. Starting out by just telling us this week of the budget.

"How do you know what you are planning for if you don’t have a proper budget? I don’t know who leaves their home and goes to the supermarket not knowing what is the maximum amount of money you are going to be spending this week on your groceries.

“Do you just go in there and look around and shop and then decide to go to the ATM and take out your money? Or are you going to practise proper planning by knowing what is the maximum you intend to spend in the grocery and what are the items that are absolutely necessary that you have to take home?"

She said from that perspective, people "are not ready to manage this carnival, to really maximise and get the most out of it.”

While there will be many visitors to the island, she said, “Are we maximising and getting the most out of what we are spending to get?”

Tsoiafatt Angus, a former secretary of community development and culture in the Orville London-led PNM THA, argued there must be systems in place to gauge the success of Tobago’s carnival since it began in 2022.

“Any country putting on an event or carnival, you need economic growth coming out of the exercise, and therefore I would hope that they have measurements in place to determine what has been the economic growth, given the spend that we have had this year.”

Tsoiafatt Angus said cultural preservation, the growth of the island’s cultural fraternity and creativity of its practitioners also must be looked at.

She added global recognition is a must.

“That then fuels your economic growth in the future, your ability to attract investments into the island.”

Tsoiafatt Angus said one cannot operate without a proper evaluation and looking at statistics.

“You should be able to share what are the statistics coming out of last year. How do we improve in those statistics?

"To date we have not had those statistics. Those are not in place to be measured.”

She also asked, “Is anyone measuring the fact that you are having Blue Food this week and carnival next weekend? How many people have decided to stay on the island for the whole week?

“Are groceries seeing an up in expenditure with people coming in? Or local vendors? Are you seeing an increase in vendors who are experiencing gains during that time?

She concluded that there should be measurements in place "to know where we are going,” adding that after this year’s event, organisers should have a clear idea of where the carnival is heading.

“This year is the turning point to know where our Tobago carnival will go or not go. This year is the opportunity to really do the statistical analysis that was not done before to understand how do we take it to the next level.

“If not, we can have a very failed product on our hands going forward, because after this year, you will be branded either survival, failure, can’t thrive.

"So this year is a crucial year for all.”