Minister of Education, Sports & Culture, the Honorable Shawn K Richards was the specially invited guest on Freedom Fm’s popular talk show Issues on Thursday. The Minister whose portfolio also includes Carnival spoke on a number of Carnival related issues during his two hour presentation on Freedom Fm. On the question of whether national carnival should be privatized to make it more productive and profitable, Richards wished that someone in the private sector would make an offer to government, because Carnival “is a very expensive undertaking”.
Host Maurice EK Flanders then asked Minister Richards about the tenure of Carnival Chairman Noah Mills who has had a turbulent relationship with vendors, artistes and media houses over organizational and cultural differences and concerns that affect the progress of national carnival. Richards said the overall thrust was to improve the carnival product and make it viable for participants, sponsors and nationals as a whole.
Richards then responded to a caller who queried about the failure by the carnival committee to provide funding for bands and artistes for the upcoming carnival season. Richards maintained that it was the responsibility of the organizers of the tents to provide the financial resources to cover their costs. He said some tents however will be the responsibility of the carnival committee. Richards branded as “rubbish” the talk out there that there would be no tents this year, or that the vendors fees had been increased.