Gail Alexan­der

Se­nior Po­lit­i­cal Re­porter

Pub­lic Re­la­tions Of­fi­cer of the Op­po­si­tion Peo­ple’s Na­tion­al Move­ment, Faris Al-Rawi, says the “last-minute” change to the Prime Min­is­ter’s de­ci­sion to im­me­di­ate­ly re­strict Car­ni­val fetes and par­ties at the Hase­ly Craw­ford Sta­di­um and Jean Pierre Com­plex to a lim­it­ed pe­ri­od was an­nounced with­out con­sul­ta­tion or tran­si­tion, and it threat­ens the in­come of thou­sands who de­pend on the Car­ni­val sea­son.

Al-Rawi has called for the Prime Min­is­ter to give full de­tails of the plan and how af­fect­ed work­ers would be pro­tect­ed.

He took is­sue with the “sud­den an­nounce­ment” re­gard­ing the two Port-of-Spain venues.

“While we un­der­stand the need to re­spond to is­sues raised by sur­round­ing com­mu­ni­ties, the man­ner in which this de­ci­sion was tak­en and com­mu­ni­cat­ed is trou­bling. Ma­jor changes of this na­ture, es­pe­cial­ly dur­ing the Car­ni­val sea­son, re­quire care­ful plan­ning, open di­a­logue and fair no­tice to those who will be af­fect­ed.

“In­stead, the abrupt ap­proach has cre­at­ed un­cer­tain­ty for both res­i­dents and the thou­sands of cit­i­zens whose liveli­hoods de­pend on the Car­ni­val econ­o­my,” he said.

Al-Rawi ad­mit­ted, “The PNM recog­nis­es that res­i­dents in the com­mu­ni­ties sur­round­ing these venues have raised gen­uine con­cerns about noise lev­els, traf­fic con­ges­tion and the im­pact of late-night events on their qual­i­ty of life. These con­cerns are le­git­i­mate and de­serve prop­er at­ten­tion. Com­mu­ni­ties have a right to peace, safe­ty and re­spect, es­pe­cial­ly dur­ing the busy Car­ni­val pe­ri­od.

“How­ev­er, the Gov­ern­ment’s sud­den and un­ex­plained de­cree serves nei­ther the res­i­dents nor the thou­sands who de­pend on Car­ni­val for in­come. A re­spon­si­ble ap­proach would have in­volved mean­ing­ful con­sul­ta­tion with all par­ties, in­clud­ing the af­fect­ed com­mu­ni­ties, event or­gan­is­ers, law en­force­ment, busi­ness­es and lo­cal au­thor­i­ties.”

He added, “In­stead, the Prime Min­is­ter’s uni­lat­er­al an­nounce­ment has cre­at­ed fi­nan­cial risk for many while of­fer­ing no clear plan to ad­dress the con­cerns raised by res­i­dents. Car­ni­val is a na­tion­al in­dus­try that re­quires long-term plan­ning. Pro­mot­ers, DJs, sound en­gi­neers, light­ing tech­ni­cians, stage crews, cater­ers, se­cu­ri­ty providers, dri­vers, ven­dors and small busi­ness own­ers in­vest months of prepa­ra­tion in­to each event.”

Al-Rawi called on the Prime Min­is­ter to im­me­di­ate­ly pro­vide full de­tails of the new re­stric­tions, ex­plain what con­sul­ta­tion took place, and out­line how the thou­sands of af­fect­ed work­ers and busi­ness­es will be pro­tect­ed.

“Car­ni­val isn’t a nui­sance but a na­tion­al in­dus­try, cul­ture, glob­al val­ue. It’s the liveli­hood of thou­sands. The busi­ness of Car­ni­val can­not sur­vive ar­bi­trary and un­ex­plained de­ci­sions hand­ed down with­out warn­ing or con­sul­ta­tion,” he said.

Al-Rawi said fetes are now a core part of the Car­ni­val prod­uct, at­tract­ing vis­i­tors, gen­er­at­ing jobs and sup­port­ing cre­ative/tech­ni­cal in­dus­tries.

“The UNC Gov­ern­ment’s de­ci­sion puts all of this at risk at a time when over 60,000 cit­i­zens have al­ready been placed on the bread­line due to wide­spread fir­ings.

“A Gov­ern­ment that is se­ri­ous about pro­tect­ing both com­mu­ni­ties and the Car­ni­val econ­o­my would en­gage stake­hold­ers ear­ly, plan re­spon­si­bly and com­mu­ni­cate clear­ly.”