Ot­to Car­ring­ton

Se­nior Re­porter

ot­to.car­ring­ton@guardian.co.tt

Car­ni­val stake­hold­ers have ex­pressed con­cern over an al­leged Cab­i­net note in­volv­ing the Na­tion­al Car­ni­val Com­mis­sion (NCC), say­ing they were not prop­er­ly con­sult­ed on a key move af­fect­ing the man­age­ment of Trinidad and To­ba­go’s Car­ni­val.

A March 2026 Cab­i­net minute is said to pro­pose re­peal­ing the NCC Act and dis­solv­ing the com­mis­sion, re­plac­ing it with a Na­tion­al Fes­ti­vals Com­mis­sion of Trinidad and To­ba­go (NFCTT).

The new en­ti­ty is ex­pect­ed to take on a broad­er man­date, in­clud­ing the gov­er­nance, de­vel­op­ment, pro­mo­tion and com­mer­cial­i­sa­tion of na­tion­al fes­ti­vals, as well as the man­age­ment of in­tel­lec­tu­al prop­er­ty tied to Trinidad and To­ba­go’s cul­tur­al prod­ucts.

The pro­posed shift is al­so aimed at ex­pand­ing the coun­try’s cul­tur­al sec­tor in­to a year-round tourism and rev­enue-gen­er­at­ing mod­el.

How­ev­er, the move comes amid on­go­ing con­cerns about fi­nan­cial man­age­ment with­in the ex­ist­ing sys­tem, in­clud­ing out­stand­ing pay­ments to stake­hold­ers fol­low­ing Car­ni­val 2026.

TU­CO pres­i­dent Ains­ley King said his or­gan­i­sa­tion was not con­sult­ed on the de­vel­op­ment and not­ed that the mat­ter nev­er came be­fore the NCC board.

“No, we weren’t re­al­ly in­formed of what the con­sul­ta­tion was about, about this move that was made. No, we were not con­sult­ed. And I’m on the NCC board, but that nev­er came to the NCC board,” King said.

Pan Trin­ba­go pres­i­dent Bev­er­ley Ram­sey-Moore al­so ex­pressed un­ease, in­di­cat­ing she was still pro­cess­ing the de­vel­op­ment and not yet ready to ful­ly com­ment.

“I am go­ing to say some­thing about the ap­proach, the NCC, the Na­tion­al Car­ni­val Com­mis­sion, but I don’t think I’m ready to talk about it as yet be­cause I think I’m still in shock,” she said.

The two lead­ers are al­so mem­bers of the NCC board.

The NCC, which has long been re­spon­si­ble for co­or­di­nat­ing and man­ag­ing Car­ni­val, has faced re­peat­ed crit­i­cism over pro­cure­ment prac­tices, op­er­a­tional ef­fi­cien­cy and the time­li­ness of pay­ments to artistes, ser­vice providers and cul­tur­al groups.