Gail Alexan­der

Se­nior Po­lit­i­cal Re­porter

Op­po­si­tion Sen­a­tor Janelle John-Bates says the $16 mil­lion spent by the Gov­ern­ment on the Fla­va Vil­lage ini­tia­tive for Car­ni­val 2026 is a sig­nif­i­cant sum that war­rants close pub­lic scruti­ny.

John-Bates spoke yes­ter­day, af­ter the Min­istry of Cul­ture and Com­mu­ni­ty De­vel­op­ment con­firmed that $16.1 mil­lion was ex­pend­ed on the project.

The fig­ure was dis­closed in a writ­ten re­sponse to a ques­tion she had sub­mit­ted to the Min­is­ter of Cul­ture. The re­ply was cir­cu­lat­ed in the Sen­ate on Wednes­day.

The ad­mis­sion-free event, held at the Queen’s Park Sa­van­nah from Jan­u­ary to Feb­ru­ary, drew large crowds with its blend of cul­tur­al show­cas­es and culi­nary of­fer­ings. How­ev­er, John-Bates said the in­for­ma­tion pro­vid­ed rais­es fur­ther ques­tions.

“Six­teen and the pub­lic is en­ti­tled to scru­ti­nise it care­ful­ly,” she said.

She al­so crit­i­cised what she de­scribed as a lack of de­tailed ac­count­ing in the min­istry’s re­sponse.

“The con­cern is not just the to­tal sum but the lack of mean­ing­ful de­tail. In the re­ply, over $13 mil­lion has been placed un­der a sin­gle head­ing called ‘Oth­er Con­tract­ed Ser­vices,’ with no in­di­ca­tion of who was paid or for what,” she said.

“That does not al­low Par­lia­ment or the pub­lic to prop­er­ly scru­ti­nise how tax­pay­ers’ mon­ey was spent,” John-Bates added.