Chaguanas Mayor Faaiq Mohammed has said that central Trinidad is still awaiting funding from the National Carnival Commission for Carnival 2023.
Speaking to Guardian Media, Mohammed said in December last year, organisers of Carnival in central Trinidad met with the NCC, and since then there has been no word.
He said there was a plan to consolidate all the central groups and this did not sit well with band leaders and event holders.
“So in Central, we were supposed to be grouped with Couva and Carapichaima. What they wanted each of these areas to do is choose an event to host for Carnival. Chaguanas is known to host kiddies Carnival, J’ouvert and the downtown Parade of the Bands. NCC hasn’t got back on to this date to the committees”, he said.
He added, “We are planning and our plans are still subject to change depending on what NCC says. We applied for approximately $400,000 in funding and to this day we haven’t gotten any confirmation of funding from NCC, so I hope that this issue is resolved soon.”
Mohammed explained, “So I hope that you know we are basically heading into the 11th hour into Carnival and Chaguanas plans to have our launch on February 4. I think we will be planning on going ahead. I spoke to the chairman of the committee, Ms Renee Bailey and she said that we will plan and continue to go ahead and we’ll try to make things work out well. With corporate Chaguanas, they always come to our aid when we need them and definitely we will be seeking their assistance as well, because what you get from the National Committee only sustains us for so much, after that you need private sponsorship.”
Efforts to contact Chairman of the National Carnival Commission (NCC) Winston Gypsy Peters on this matter proved futile as calls to his cellphone went unanswered.
—Reporting by Otto Carrington