Senior Reporter
sascha.wilson@guardian.co.tt
Three months after Carnival, some San Fernando band leaders are still waiting to receive their prize money.
Alick Anthony Charles, leader of the winning San Fernando J’Ouvert band is now threatening legal action if payments are not made swiftly.
In a letter to the San Fernando City Corporation chief executive officer on Wednesday, Charles, leader of B Man and Lord Street Fusion and Family Events band, said, “It is with a deep and heavy distressed and disturbed spirit that I have to put pen to paper to express my disappointment, the total disregard and disrespect handed out to me and other band leaders and winners of various San Fernando Carnival 2023 competitions.”
Noting that his band also won Carnival Tuesday’s medium mas band category, he said they have a legal expectation to be awarded the prizes (prize monies) that were “legitimately registered and competed for and won.”
Charles said Carnival 2024 is approaching and band leaders are yet to cover their expenses for this year’s presentation.
He is calling on the corporation or the National Carnival Commission (NCC) to deal with this issue expeditiously.
Guardian Media spoke with Ayana Kalicharan, from the Kalicharan band that copped the San Fernando Band of the Year winner, who said that they also have not received their prize money or received any communication on when it will be presented to them.
At the Corporation’s Statutory Meeting in March, a prize-giving ceremony was held for the Junior Calypso and Junior mas winners.
It was mere days before Carnival that the corporation received its first release of Carnival funds to host competitions in San Fernando.
Attempts to reach San Fernando Mayor Junia Regrello and San Fernando Conveyor of Carnival Naigum Joseph on their cellphones for comment were unsuccessful.