Do what you like NCBA tells NCC

The National Carnival Bands Association (NCBA) will provide information requested by the National Carnival Commission (NCC) to run the remainder of the mas shows for Carnival 2003, but not the “know how” in a number of areas.

President of the NCBA Richard Afong told reporters yesterday that the NCC has acted very unfairly and biased towards the NCBA and for no logical reason. “The NCC said they were willing and capable of running the events so all we said is if you lift the injunction go ahead and run the events but don’t ask us for information about the skills to be judged, for lists of our judges, for sound and music arrangements and so forth!” Afong said.

Public Relations Officer David Cameron agreed with Afong and stated that the discharge of the injunction “brought us right back to square one, two different organisations claiming the right to host the same Carnival events.” He described it as a recipe for confusion and confrontation and added:  “So after careful consideration, for the sake of stability and in the broader interests of Carnival, the NCBA has decided to stand back. We do not intend to jostle with the NCC over management and control of the shows. They can have a free run. We will not do anything to hinder or obstruct them.” However the NCC’s request of a meeting with the NCBA last Thursday to discuss how both parties could cooperate in the planning and financing of last night’s Queen show at the Queen’s Park Savannah was blanked by the NCBA.

The NCC expected NCBA to supply it with a list of contestants together with registration numbers, categories, skills to be judged, list of NCBA judges, proposed order of appearance, names of guest artistes, information regarding stage and track management, arrangements for sound and music, system of scoring, security and band track officials. But Afong said: “We were not happy with the judgment to lift the injunction because it came about in the first instance when we were applying to the court for funds to be released so that we would have been able to manage our events. Now we don’t have the money to run anything, therefore let the NCC do it themselves.” As regards the NCBA’s request to Pan Trinbago not to remove the fence at the western end of the stage, Afong said that it was now NCC’s call and they could do what they want to do.