No money for Carifesta

St Vincent and the Grenadines did not participate in Carifesta 2006 because there was no money in the budget.

This is according to Permanent Secretary in the Ministry of Culture Andreas Wickham.{{more}}

He told SEARCHLIGHT that Carifesta is held every four years and St Vincent and the Grenadines last participated in Suriname in 2003. He noted that the next event was to be held four years later in 2007 but the Carifesta committee pushed the festival ahead of it’s time by one year because host country Trinidad and Tobago needed the extra year to make preparations for hosting the 2007 World Cup Cricket.

Though the government had made provisions to put it into the 2007 budget, it did not have adequate notice to get it into the 2006 budget.

Wickham regretted that a contingent could not participate in the festival but reinforced that the government had to be practical in the way monies are budgeted and spent in each department.

He said that the cost of a 30-member team would amount to hundreds of thousands of dollars as it would include the cost of airfare, hotel accommodation and costuming among other things for the team and entourage.

He admitted that while any exposure for the country was welcomed, the country had to be systematic and ensure that they had calculated the expenses.