Gonsalves warns CDC that it is not an empire unto itself

The failure of the Carnival Development Corporation (CDC), to livestream the Miss SVG Pageant has grabbed the attention of the Prime Minister.

And he has used the opportunity of a call at the weekend to the WEFM Issue at Hand programme to comment on the issue.

He said the Miss SVG Pageant was a fantastic queen show, with magnificent young ladies contesting for the crown.

He, however, lamented the inability of the show’s producers, the CDC, to get the live streaming right.

Speaking last Sunday, the Prime Minister warned that “CDC is not an empire unto itself.”

He said the same goes for VC3  and the SVG Tourism Authority.

While being critical of their failure towards the public, Gonsalves observed that “all these enterprises are headed by men and women of tremendous quality.”

“Sometimes, you just stay inside your little silo.”

Gonsalves warned that with this attitude, these entities would get left behind in the modern, competitive economy which is being built in St Vincent and the Grenadines.

“That’s not the rhythm of building a modern, competitive, many sided post colonial economy,” he advised.

“Those who don’t keep up will get left behind, and will be exposed.”

The Prime Minister called for an end to “the foolish nonsense” and for a better attitude towards work and production.

The failure of the CDC to stream the show live drew sharp criticism from the public.

Responding to this, last week, Coordinator of Shows with the CDC, Anthony Dennie told SEARCHLIGHT that the Corporation had experienced challenges relating to the live streaming of their events in the past and this helped inform the decision taken.

There had however been criticism that many had been left disappointed and ‘offended’ that the show was not streamed live online.

In relation to persons being offended, Dennie said there was no intent to be disrespectful to anyone, being local or the diaspora, if it came across that way, we do apologise.”

Tickets were reported to have been completely sold out one or two hours prior before the start of the Pageant.

The Miss SVG show was held on Saturday, October 29 at the Arnos Vale Sports Complex.

At the end of the competition, Jada Ross took the coveted crown of Miss SVG 2022.

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