The executives of Pan Trinbago may be offended by an alleged takeover of the organisation by the Government, but citizens are more offended by the apparently wasteful, if not corrupt, expenditure of funds by the pan entity.
Last week, Minister of Community Development, Culture and the Arts, Dr Nyan Gadsby-Dolly announced that the Government is set to conduct a forensic audit into Pan Trinbago's finances after this year's Carnival celebrations. In response, Pan Trinbago is accusing the Government of a "hostile takeover" and "an infringement of the right to enjoy the fullness of our heritage instrument that was carved out of the blood, sweat and tears of our pioneers."
This alone reveals the depths of delusion that Pan Trinbago's leadership is under. First of all, the Government provides all the organisation's funding and, on that basis alone, is entirely entitled to investigate how that money has been spent and even direct Pan Trinbago on how to spend it.
Secondly, even if in some alternative human rights universe Pan Trinbago enjoyed some "right of enjoyment" in respect to pan, that right would not trump the citizens' right to know how public funds are being used. This is especially so in light of still-unexplained allegations that Pan Trinbago executives approved the purchase of two luxury vehicles–a BMW X5 and an Audi Q7.
Minister Gadsby-Dolly in turn has attempted to soothe the leadership's supposedly ruffled feathers. "Neither the ministry nor NCC has been hostile towards Pan Trinbago," she told the T&T Guardian. "No attempts have been made to intervene in the affairs in Pan Trinbago other than those which involve the expenditure of public funds."
But this issue of expenditure necessarily affects everything else, in as much as Pan Trinbago has for years now failed to fulfil its core mandate to develop pan. The media release from Pan Trinbago's public relations officer Michael Joseph asserted that the art form had been "nurtured and developed from nothing to a potential billion-dollar industry." Even if that estimate were true, however, Pan Trinbago can hardly take credit for any advances the steelband has made, either musically or financially. Indeed, the very fact that the organisation remains completely dependent on the Treasury after so many years and so many millions is sufficient testament to its failure.
Nonetheless, Minister Gadsby-Dolly continues to make reassuring noises, saying: "Far from wanting to take over the organisation, the Government and the NCC stand ready to support them and the wider pan fraternity as they undertake the institutional strengthening necessary to deliver on their very critical mandate."
But what is so critical about pan's mandate at a time when this country faces far more pressing problems? In this regard, any "institutional strengthening" which does not take Pan Trinbago off the Treasury teat only weakens our already struggling economy, especially since Mr Joseph has berated the Government for not providing his organisation with "a few million dollars" for "capacity building and institutional strengthening."
It is clear that Pan Trinbago is trying to strong-arm the Government into giving its leaders a free pass. As with Petrotrin, whether the Rowley administration gives in to these tactics will depend on their political calculations. But any resistance to a forensic audit will be perceived by the public as unjustified entitlement on the part of pan men. Pan Trinbago simply cannot continue with business–or, more precisely, lack of business–as usual.