Prime Minister Patrick Manning said yesterday that fete promoters will not use the Government to make money on citizens' heads.
Manning said the promoters had no one to blame but themselves because they had been warned to leave the sporting facilities in proper condition, but they ignored the warning. The Prime Minister was responding to comments made by Caribbean Prestige Foundation's chief executive officer Gregory Fernandez that the denial by the Government to use sporting facilities for major 2010 Carnival shows would cripple the industry. It was after his walkabout in Cocoyea–in his San Fernando East constituency late yesterday–that Manning shot back at Fernandez's claims. During at a news conference on Tuesday, Fernandez said major pre-Carnival shows were in jeopardy because of the Government's ban on the use of sporting facilities for cultural shows.
Manning said yesterday: "Last year, I gave instructions that they be allowed to use the Hasely Crawford Stadium and it is the last time I do that because of the condition they left it in. "We warned them if you don't leave it in a proper condition you are not going to get it again and that is exactly what they did," he added. Manning said the Government had spent a lot of money for the Caribbean Games which did not come off and it would be irresponsible of the Government "really, to hand it over to the promoters for them to make money out of it...We can't do that."
He said the people who staged big�shows, including Soca Monarch, Alternative Concert, Ladies Night Out, Divas of Soca and the Alternative Comedy Festival were businessmen and promoters who made money out of these shows. Manning said: "Why don't they build their own facilities. That is a private sector initiative. There is a tendency in this country that government must do everything so people could maximise their profits at the expense of citizens. That is something the Government cannot encourage," Manning said.