Stakeholders’ decision regrettable
~ Says Carnival Development Foundation ~
PHILIPSBURG--In response to the final conclusion by the Carnival stakeholders who have opted to boycott Carnival 2009, St. Maarten Carnival Development Foundation (SCDF) stated in a press release last night that it found their decision regrettable.
According to SCDF, there are some issues on which the stakeholders spoke out in their press release that need more clarification and additional information. For example, SCDF said that at no time had Kendall Dupersoy “claimed” to be President of SCDF, in relation to the allegation that he had been elected the new President of the board.
SCDF claims that in an e-mail correspondence with promoter Clarence Derby of CD Entertainment and a telephone conversation with Latin night promoter Francisco “Cuchie” Hunt, Dupersoy had passed along information that was available at the time. Both gentlemen were informed that the new SCDF board had not taken any position on the allocation of International Nights.
Dupersoy indicated that once the full schedule was revealed, it was his hope that all promoters would open a dialog with each other and come to a solution acceptable to all.
The new board of SCDF said it found itself in a very difficult position in this entire matter. It said that if SCDF were to redo the schedule, then all promoters now in possession of nights would be claiming the same kind of victimisation this group of stakeholders was claiming.
SCDF said it was not treating anyone in an unfair manner. It said the former board had been contacted by promoters earlier this year and had contacted the promoters in question on several occasions and requested that they submit requests, which they had indicated they would do.
SCDF said that if these promoters had indicated to the previous board that they had no intention of submitting requests because of the saga between SCDF and the group of stakeholders, another action could have been taken. As they did not submit requests, the only alternative the previous board had was to allocate nights to various promoters that had submitted requests.
SCDF also asked why, if the issue the promoters had was with the former president and treasurer, the promoters’ intentions to participate had not been brought forward to other SCDF members. SCDF said an application could have been given to another board member.
SCDF has also taken note that all members of the stakeholders group have decided not to take part in next year’s grand celebration even though the issue is solely with the promoters. It questioned why some form of dialog had not been attempted, as it is a new board. Therefore, SCDF said it believed control, not participation, was the stakeholders’ goal.
“We want to assure the people of St. Maarten that Carnival 2009 will be a grand celebration with or without the stakeholders, although SCDF would prefer the full participation of all that truly love Carnival and St. Maarten. There will still be a Latin night. There will still be great shows,” stated SCDF.
SCDF further said that in its opinion the shows were not made great by it or the promoters, but by the people of St. Maarten and visitors enjoying themselves. SCDF extended gratitude to Culture Commissioner Maria Buncamper-Molanus and by extension the Executive Council for their continued support.
“We would like to assure the Executive Council and the people of St. Maarten that every effort will be made to work out this issue in an amicable manner that will ultimately be the best solution for Carnival, as the total success of Carnival is our main and only concern,” concluded SCDF.
