There is no doubt that the Government has made a huge investment in the 2011 Carnival, which has contributed in a real way to a reinvigoration of the various competitions that have traditionally formed such a major part of the pre-lenten event. Government subventions have been used to increase the first prize in Sunday's Calypso Monarch competition to $2 million. Government subventions, as well, were used to pay $2 million to the winner of Saturday's Panorama competition for the large steelband and Friday's Soca Monarch competition.
The winner of the Chutney Soca competition also received a cheque for $2 million in what was one of the first the Carnival competitions to be decided. We wish to join with the national community in extending our sincere congratulations to the winners of these competitions: Karene Asche (Calypso Monarch), Neal&Massy Trinidad All Stars (Panorama large band competition), Machel Montano (Soca Monarch) and Rikki Jai (Chutney Soca Monarch).
All the winners are worthy exponents of the various arts that go to making T&T's Carnival such a multi-faceted experience, unlike the carnivals of some other countries. Among the other ways in which the current administration has improved the Carnival is by returning some of the major competitions to the stage at the Queen's Park Savannah, following the expenditure of $55 million on the construction of a new, permanent Grand Stand and a North Stand. The Government has also spent lavishly on the regional carnivals which, along with the traditional sponsors of children's mas, has contributed to ensuring that Carnival remains the focal point of cultural activities in this country.
Prime Minister Kamla Persad-Bissessar herself has personally underscored the importance that the People's Partnership administration pays to the Carnival experience by being on hand, along with a large retinue of her Cabinet colleagues, to make the cheque presentations to the winners at the Dimanche Gras show and the Chutney Soca competition and by going out of her way to make the presentation to the Soca Monarch winner, who had left the Hasely Crawford Stadiumto attend to other commitments.
While we unreservedly commend the current administration for its superior subventions to Carnival winners, three points can be made. Firstly, having set the bar as high as it has in 2011 in terms of prize money, the Government may find itself a little hardpressed in reverting in 2012 and beyond to the contributions of previous years. One of the benefits of the larger prize money purses is that it attracted some of the best talent-this was especially true of the Soca Monarch competition in which Montano, Destra Garcia and Kees Dieffenthaller all took part. It may be that if the top prizes revert to the 2010 levels that participation in some of the competitions may not be as rich or the competition as fierce.
Secondly, given the incident at the prize-giving stage of the Chutney Soca Monarch event, when one singer expressed his dissatisfaction at the results in a most unsavory way, those who have stewardship over the culture need to ensure that the message goes out across the land that competitions are not a matter of life or death. Finally, given the free hand with which the Government has spent taxpayers' money on cultural activities, some might argue that the Government should now be reluctant to continue making the argument to the public servants, the police, the teachers and others that the Treasury can only afford a five per cent salary increase over a three year period.
By hiking competition prize monies by 300 per cent in some cases, the Government has lavished the riches of the State on panmen and singers, some of whom are already fabulously wealthy by local standards. There was no question of the country not being able to afford when several millionaires were created by Government's generosity. Surely police officers, teachers and public servants, who contribute as much or more to the country's development, deserve similar generosity.