Call for audit leaves Pan Trinbago hitting sour note

The spirt of Pan Trinbago’s response to the announcement suggests that, as an organisation, it is above reproach, has been an efficient steward of its affairs and is the unfair target of a media vendetta.

A statement from the organisation last week essentially accused the Ministry of Culture and the NCC of attempting to hijack pan affairs in a “hostile takeover of Carnival groups”.

According to the statement, the authorities were “hell bent on usurping the role of Pan Trinbago and the two other major interest groups in the national festival and the authority given to them by acts of Parliament.” It also said that the artform (pan and the fraternity) had moved from the point where its members were considered the criminal element and “nurtured and developed from nothing, to a potential billion-dollar industry” But perhaps the most intriguing line of the release is the declaration that the audit is nothing short of an attempt by government to infringe upon “the right to enjoy the fullness of our heritage instrument that was carved out of the blood sweat and tears of our pioneers.” Pan Trinbago then declared that it was not against the audit and had in fact been providing audited statements for decades, unlike the NCC.

Another statement which catches the attention is the one made by Richard Forteau, Pan Trinbago’s acting President, “This private organisation is willing to share our business with our line minister, but apparently, there are people out there who want to try matters in the court of public opinion.” Again, in the spirit in which Business Day has been doing these Carnival pieces over the past few weeks, questions need to be asked. Has Pan Trinbago been running its affairs in a manner that would keep it from the “interference” of outsiders? Indeed, Pan Trinbago seems deeply offended by the mere suggestion that such outside intervention is necessary.

Business Day has obtained a copy of Pan Trinbago’s unconsolidated financial statements as of June, 2016.

According to this document, Pan Trinbago received a capital grant of $2,420,200. A capital grant is one disbursed by the government.

Therefore, Pan Trinbago is in receipt of taxpayers’ money. Moreover, it is the result of an Act of Parliament. Do members of Pan Trinbago’s executive believe that they are a “private organization”, unaccountable to anyone but the line minister? The financial statement goes on to say that Pan Trinbago has “an accumulated deficit of $10,485,685 as at June 2016 and total liabilities exceed its current assets and investments by $14,954,960 as at the year end.

Additionally, International Conference and Panorama, a subsidiary of Pan Trinbago, has outstanding liabilities totaling $9,081,621, which the organization may be liable to pay in the near future.” This information should be taken in tandem with the fact that Pan Trinbago is reported to be in the vicinity of anywhere between $31 million and $87 million dollars in debt in total.

Several of the accounts listed for regional pan activities also showed deficits/losses. What Dr Nyan Gadsby Dolly, Culture Minister, seems to be asking for does not appear unreasonable. She said that a “right to audit” clause will now be inserted into the contracts of all Special Interest Groups and NGOs that receive large subventions from the government in an effort “to ensure accountability and transparency in the use of public funds.” Why should this be interpreted by Pan Trinbago as an effort to deprive the people of the right to enjoy the national instrument, flying in the face of all those who worked hard to bring the national instrument to this point? Pan Trinbago in its response to the Minister’s statement, alleged that the National Carnival Commission (NCC) is unfit to manage it, the organization itself being several millions in debt.

The culture minister has said while initial audit efforts will focus on the pan body, it is likely to widen as time passes. The NCC may in fact have its own questions to answer.

Business Day has reached out to Kenny De Silva, the NCC chairman, several times over the past month, about this and other issues facing the organization. So far, we have been unsuccessful in setting up an interview with him.

For years, there has also been some confusion about who has the ultimate right to manage Carnival: the NCC or the special interest groups, like TUCO, the NCBA and Pan Trinbago.

Again, the legislation is unclear because even though the NCC appears to have the right to regulate special interest bodies, there are other pieces of law that give the special interest groups the right to encroach upon NCC powers.

Perhaps this is another area the culture ministry can look into in order to further cut down costs and streamline Carnival’s management.