De Silva remains NCC Chairman

“No, I have not resigned. The editorial in the Express suggested I should resign based on what happened in Dimanche Gras. Although the writer may be right, I have decided not to resign. I don’t think it will benefit the NCC at this time. I am still the Chairman,” De Silva told Newsday,

The Express editorial stated, “Kenny De Silva has served Carnival reasonably well and gained credibility with Carnival stakeholders,

But he should know that in accepting responsibility for the disaster that was Dimanche Gras, he and his team should have gone one step further and accepted the consequences of their failure by tendering their resignations.” During the show on Carnival Sunday there were technical difficulties, poor stage management and other unexplained delays,

De Silva said that based on all the circumstances which the editorial’s writer was not exposed to, De Silva said, “the buck stops with me. I have to make the decisions and I have decided not to resign.” De Silva issued an apology to the public, in a media release, which stated, “The NCC has taken note of the comments and complaints expressed on the shortcomings in the Dimanche Gras at the Queen’s Park Savannah,

We regret that we did not have adequate corrective protocols in place to deal immediately with the problems once they arose.” The release continued, “We sincerely apologise to all the artists, honourees, patrons, and the public and give the assurance that we will have in place a more robust back-up plan in future.”