Turnquest: Cancel carnival or reduce costs significantly

Mon, Feb 20th 2017, 12:06 AM

Free National Movement (FNM) Deputy Leader Peter Turnquest is urging the government to cancel Bahamas Junkanoo Carnival (BJC) this year, given its fiscal challenges -- or at the very least substantially cut spending on the event.
Last week, The Nassau Guardian's National Review revealed that Bahamas National Festival Commission (BNFC) Chairman Paul Major recommended to Prime Minister Perry Christie to halve the budget for carnival this year, due to political and economic considerations.
The inaugural BJC in 2015 cost the government $12.9 million.
The BNFC reported that the 2016 carnival cost $9.8 million, of which $8.1 was subsidized by the government.
Major said the commission can hold the event this year with a $4 million government subsidy.
But Turnquest said if the event must be held at all, the input from the government should match the subvention of the Junkanoo parades.
"My personal view is that the carnival should be skipped this year, or delayed if it is to be held, until after elections," said Turnquest in an interview with The Nassau Guardian.
"I, too, believe that the $4 million to $5 million subvention should be further reduced to not exceed the contributions made to the Junkanoo parades or a max of $2 million, whichever is less, in order to facilitate the transfer to private control."
The FNM has said it would privatize carnival if it becomes the next government.
"As a government, we should offer the event with a pay back plan for licenses and other taxes and allow the project to float free of government interference and indebtedness to the Bahamian people," he said.
"Why hold onto a losing proposition when there is a viable option to free yourself of this burden on the Bahamas treasury?"
Major advised the prime minister that in other jurisdictions, when faced with financial difficulties, carnival was never canceled.
He wrote, "It will be very difficult to convince stakeholders and sponsors in the future that there will be an annual carnival if we were to skip a year."
Major further advised the prime minister that the commission and the government could make some "hard decisions" to cut costs, including staging all events in the cultural village (at Arawak Cay), reducing the performances in Nassau to two nights and reducing production and marketing costs, among other things.
He also recommended that the Ministry for Grand Bahama or the Ministry of Tourism pick up some of the costs related to carnival on Grand Bahama.
Turnquest, who is the MP for East Grand Bahama, said he took exception to the suggestion that the Ministry for Grand Bahama should cover any of the costs.
"I note with interest the suggestion by the commission to halve the Ministry of Finance contribution to Junkanoo Carnival while suggesting that the Ministry of Tourism and Ministry of Grand Bahama up their contribution to the failed event," he said.
"The point missing by the organizers is that they have not been able to demonstrate clearly that this event is becoming successful and a clear plan for recovery for the already sunk cost of over $29 million is realistic and practical."
Last week, it was also revealed that Major threatened to quit as chairman of the BNFC over a dispute with Unique Bahamas International Ltd., which handles the production for carnival.

Click here to read more at The Nassau Guardian

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