By AVA TURNQUEST

Tribune Chief Reporter

aturnquest@tribunemedia.net

FREE National Movement Deputy Leader Peter Turnquest yesterday called for the government to postpone or delay the third annual Bahamas Junkanoo Carnival until after the general election, warning that the event could only be perceived as “vote buying” if staged during the election cycle.

Responding to questions placed by The Tribune, Mr Turnquest also suggested that the 2017 festival could be held early, but acknowledged that this was an unlikely possibility given logistics surrounding the multi-million dollar event.

A stakeholders meeting is set for Friday, according to Minister of Youth Sports and Culture Dr Danny Johnson, who told The Tribune that organisers will outline the way forward, inclusive of setting a date, based on those talks.

“It should definitely be after,” Mr Turnquest said. “We have to be careful that it is not seen as an electioneering event. It ought not to be a rally of sorts paid for by the Bahamian people.

“It’s in the best interest of transparency, good governance, and sticking to the true tenants of the Parliamentary Elections Act for this event to be postponed, or even held early, because in the heat of the election cycle for the government of the day to put on a carnival party with the Bahamian tax payer dollar, where they are parading themselves as giving out concessions, that can only be seen as electioneering and vote buying.”

The Constitution mandates that a general election be staged every five years. The last election was held on May 7, 2012.

In 2015, the inaugural festival took place on May 7-9 in New Providence, and the 2016 Carnival kicked off on April 15-16 in Grand Bahama and on May 5-7 in New Providence.

The third annual festival was previously expected to be the year that Bahamas Junkanoo Carnival would generate a profit.

Ahead of the inaugural event, the Bahamas National Festival Commission’s Chairman Paul Major told those attending the National Conclave of Bahamas Chambers of Commerce that the economic impact would increase by 20.5 per cent over the 2015 version.

At the time, Mr Major unveiled projections showing that a $5.323m ‘loss’ on the government’s initial $9.323m investment in the 2015 carnival will be transformed into a $1m ‘profit’ by 2017.

Following criticism over the profitability of last year’s event, the BNFC has clarified that the event was an economic stimulus exercise focused on reducing government investment and increasing revenue, adding that the commission’s mandate “has always been to significantly and positively impact” the country’s gross domestic product (GDP).

The Tribune was unable to confirm the budget for this year’s event. Mr Major did not take questions from The Tribune when called yesterday, but stated that he had “nothing to report”.

In 2015, the government spent $11.3m on the inaugural festival, going over its initial budget of $9m, with the total cost of the first carnival $12.9m, with the rest covered by sponsors. Last year, the government’s subsidy was $8.1m. The BNFC has promised to make public the independent audits conducted on the 2015 and 2016 festivals, but those reports have not yet been released.

In July last year, the Department of Statistics officials announced that the overall unemployment rate was 12.7 per cent after a 2.1 per cent decline, with officials pointing to Bahamas Junkanoo Carnival “related activities” accounting for some of the improvement. That survey covered the reference period of April 25 to May 1, 2016.

The FNM has pledged to privatise the annual festival if elected to government, and direct investment into Junkanoo and other cultural events.

In an interview with The Tribune, Dr Johnson pointed out that the BJC festival was already being privatised, and that the government’s investment was intended to spark job creation, economic stimulus, and to expand the creative platform for young Bahamians.

Dr Johnson spoke of his plans to use his platform as minister of culture to evolve the current calendar to year-round cultural activities similar to his ministry’s efforts in the sporting sector.

Dr Johnson said: “It’s already being privatised already, the investment was really for job creation, economic stimulus, and to expand the creative platform for young Bahamians, particularly the song writers. I think they’ve done that so now our part of handholding is over, it’ll slowly come to an end. We have a lot less to do, really a lot less to do.

“It’s just to get it started was heavy, but now we’ll find all the groups are able to do much more themselves. We think the creative energy that they have and the market we have here is a huge market place and I think they’re going to take advantage of it right away,” Dr Johnson said. “Some would like to see us have a jazz fest, I’m looking forward to that,” he said.

“All of these things we think we have just what we’ve done with sports where we have year-round sports action and looking forward to having a calendar in a few years where every month you have a major festival that can give us year-round cultural activities.

“Literacy festivals, art festivals, film festivals, etc, not just one thing,” Dr Johnson said. “I’m going to take the responsibility to evolve what I will call year-round cultural activity, as the minister of culture, to demonstrate why we need that investment and why we’re going to go with it.”