PROGRESSIVE Empowerment Party (PEP) head Phillip Edward Alexander scoffed at the Government's recent decision to hold a limited, showcase-style Carnival during the ongoing covid19 pandemic, speaking to Newsday on Friday.
On Wednesday, Minister of Tourism, Culture and the Arts Randall Mitchell promised some shows/presentations but no mass events such as fetes or street parades.
Alexander said, "Personally, I think it's a distraction. It's nonsense.
"There's no way to safeguard a Carnival safe zone. None of the stakeholders in Carnival seem to be in support of this, so what is it about? Who are they trying to please? Who are they trying to appease?
"We are at a point where you are charting the highest cases of infection, and then you want to say you are going to have a Carnival showcase? What does that even mean?
"I think the Government is confused."
He dubbed the decision "populist nonsense."
"They have this saying, 'One thing that will cause us to riot is if you cancel Carnival.' So we cancelled Carnival for two years and now they are trying to see if we are that much Carnival jumbies that if they call a Carnival, we will all just go wild in the road. Obviously Trinidadians are a little wiser than that right now, and we want sensible decisions."
Alexander questioned Mitchell's saying the Government was "working on it." and the rush now to present Carnival.
"You don't rush to put out something like a Carnival during a pandemic. You have to make up your mind. Either you have a pandemic or you don't. If you have a pandemic, you can't have a Carnival. None of this makes any sense.
"You were tear-gassing people for gathering in the Savannah and now you want to give them permission to go and wine in the Savannah? Which is it?"
Alexander said the Government should instead turn its efforts towards alleviating the plight of children who have been out of school for two years by creating safe spaces for them.
"We've locked them out of school, of being able to play with friends. Children need to develop interpersonal skills, and if anybody should be getting that attention right now, it is these children. "The Government should be focused on that."
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