June 18th, 2012 St. George's Grenada 1. It is with a heavy and very sad heart that I address you this morning. At the outset, let me state for the record that I harbor grave concern for the state of affairs in Grenada as it relates to carnival and more generally the state of culture on the whole. The statutory body that has been selected to run carnival in Grenada has demonstrated that it is completely inept to do so. 2. Since February of 2012, I wrote the body in regards to our hosting our annual White in the Moonlight on Carnival Saturday night. A response by SMC that was supposed to take one week took two and a half months and only came after I had written three letters to the SMC. 3. In March 2012, the SMC had a so called promoters meeting where they called for "partnerships". I called on Mr Dowe to get some clarity on what specifically does this call for partnership entail, I got no clarification. Mr Dowe told me that they're leaving it up to the promoters to come up with ideas and suggestions for the framework of partnership. I told him that this made no sense and the SMC doesn't know what they're doing! Why would a private promoter come up with an idea and then give it to SMC? 4. Around the middle of April, SMC informed us that they had deemed our event to have competing interest with Panorama and hence couldnot allow us to have the event as usual. No comment was made about our proposed partnership where I offered the SMC $10,000 upfront and 5% of the profits (of course at the time I had no clear knowledge that they were not entitled to such an offer). Let it be clear that I didn't have to make this generous offer but I did so in the interest of harmonious relations with the SMC and carnival in general. 5. After several frustrating conversations with SMC where nothing much was achieved. We retained an Expert Advisor and Legal Counsel and only then did we begin to make some sort of headway with the SMC, which by now had adopted a draconian, totalitarian and cynical attitude towards us. 6. Mr Dowe gladly boasts of the Spicemas Bill and it's drawings from St Vincent's Carnival Legislation. I was saddened. How could this be a proud moment for Grenada in the carnival realm of things, I had always seen our carnival activity right next to Trinidad's which is the mecca of carnival! How come Grenada was now drawing insights about carnival from an island that boasts of only one night club? As a young lad in GBSS in the 1980's, I always thought and envisioned Grenada as being at the forefront of the OECS for carnival and culture, primarily as the de facto leader, next to Trinidad and Tobago! I guess Mr Dowe and his cohorts view us as being positioned differently-perhaps near the very bottom. 7. As time passed, I informed Mr Dowe that there were rumblings of another Soca show being held in the stadium on the same night as Panorama. He vehemently denied it and said it is "not true". 8. In another conversation when I presented some facts, Mr Dowe decided to come partially clean and said they (meaning SMC) had decided to partner with a local promoter to do a “Soca show”! I immediately cried foul and asked him how could he attempt to stop our show while giving another promoter the green light on the same night! Something smelled very fishy! 9. Mr Dowe told me that White in the Moonlight is a FETE and a Fete isn't part of Carnival and he's not mandated to protect fetes, the only components of carnival that requires protecting, according to him are MAS, PAN & CALYPSO (not SOCA FETES)! Shocking! 10. I then asked what was the classification of the show that the SMC was partnering to do on Carnival Saturday night? Mr. Dowe did not respond. It must also be noted that during a call with Mr Dowe in early June, I told him that I was contacted by a band manager and promoter from Trinidad in regards to an All-Inclusive fete being held in St. George’s on Carnival Sunday, the same night as Dimanche Gras. Mr Dowe vehemently denied any knowledge of such fete and said in front of about twelve witnesses that no one contacted him or SMC in regards to this Sunday fete. 11. Not surprising one week later an email dated May 7th, 2012, surfaced showing an exchange of dialogue between a local hotel manager and Mr Dowe discussing the same All-inclusive Fete that Mr Dowe stated on June 5th that he had no knowledge about. 12. It was at this point that I came to accept that the Corporation has been masquerading and lying to us the promoters and to the Grenadian public all along. It became evident to us that a “back room deal” was cut to stop White in the Moonlight, so that the other Soca show, with another private promoter, could take place in the Stadium on Carnival Saturday night. 13. On Tuesday June 5th during a conference call with some SMC members Mr Dowe suggested that we move “White in the Moonlight” to Carnival Monday Night and I literally thought it was a trick! How could the SMC that professes to protect MAS be actually suggesting to us to compete with Monday Night Mas! Monday Night Mas is a big part of the carnival celebrations, and one of the main stay of the carnival season! Once again the SMC’s motive and judgment was called into question. We can't compete with Pan yet here was SMC encouraging us to compete with “Mas”, and Monday night mas at that! We rejected this suggestion by the Chairman, Mr. Dowe. 14. What the SMC had not realized was that we were made clever to their ways and their true intentions by a source who had alerted us nearly three weeks prior, of the “googlie”, Mr. Dowe and his SMC were about to bowl. In fact, both in Grenada and in Trinidad promoters of the new show were stating that SMC would make us move White in the Moonlight to Carnival Monday. We conveyed what we had learnt to Mr. Dowe, who tried in vain to assure me that this option was only discussed a week ago, not the three weeks ago as we had heard. However we had seen communication which caused his words to fall on barren soil, since he was again being untruthful. 15. In fact, Members of the SMC even suggested moving Soca Monarch from the usual Friday night to Saturday night and then we can have the show on Saturday night after Soca Monarch finishes at 1:00am! Ludicrous! I am yet to patronize a Soca Monarch show that finishes at 1:00 am. According to their plan, the consolation would have been that they would shift Panorama to Friday night. 16. After some more debating and talk SMC finally relented! They agreed for White in the Moonlight to happen only if we paid them $135,000 in cash upfront. This amount of Ec $ 135,000 was to be fully paid up two weeks in advance of the White in the Moonlight Show. Frankly, we considered this to be another practical joke. Unfortunately as far as they were concerned, to them though it was not, they believed this to be a serious offer. I was both shocked and bewildered. Where could such an unrealistic number come from, we thought? We were really unclear, so we again enquired of who else…..Mr. Dowe? 17. Now Mr Dowe’s logic is that he believes about 6000 patrons would attend Moonlight City. I'm not a mathematician but my CXC Math passed in Form four at GBSS, and the two years of 'A' level Math at the Institute for Further Education, told me that if 6000 people attend and we charge $50 per person, then our gate revenue will be $300,000. I then asked Mr. Dowe how much he believed that the bars would make? He didn't have an answer. In reality though if the bar grosses $80,000 and that gives us a total of around $380,000 of which SMC wants one third up front! That begs the question, how would we pay for the band/s, artists, local workers etc. plus VAT and withholding tax to do the show, if we have to pay the SMC $135,000.00? 18. Clearly this would leave us with a great loss!! 19. It did not escape us at the Carnival launch in June 2nd, that there was no advertisement for Panorama, yet the private promoter was able to play several times an advertisement for the soca show in the stadium on Panorama night! What was the real truth SMC? Were you attempting to stop White in the Moonlight to help Panorama or was the real reason that SMC planned to stop White in the Moonlight so that they could facilitate their friends and sycophants with a monopoly, by having no competing show on Carnival Saturday night! It is time for SMC to come clean and stop treating us citizens as puppets. Mr. Dowe and the SMC should get real and let the people know why it was so important to stop a show that was created and developed to bring joy and pleasure to a vast amount of freedom loving people in a proper social environment. The deceit and deception are like nothing I've ever seen. 20. There is nothing to indicate why both shows cannot go on simultaneously. Over the years we've given the pan community the respect and not start our show until after the competition has finished! We are aware that there are persons in North America and the Caribbean that are canceling their vacation plans because of the dictatorship stand taken by SMC. I encourage you to come to Spicemas as usual and have fun in the sun. I'm very confident that Mr Dowe and the SMC would recognize their follies and make the necessary corrections. 21. All my friends will still be visiting this year. White in the Moonlight would be very special this year once SMC recognizes the importance of having the show! This is about Grenada and serving the citizens and friends of Grenada HONORABLY and HONESTLY. When I grew up in a Grenada man’s word was his bond. Please come clean once and for all and stop spoiling “we mas”! Carnival is not just Mas, Pan & Calypso but also includes plenty liming and fetes! Yes Mr Chairman, White in the Moonlight is a part of the Carnival experience too. The Carnival experience is whatever we the people want it to be. 22. Carnival is WEE TING and it is visionary thinking and openness that will be responsible for making a success of carnival NOT archaic and draconian Policies from a bygone epoc in history. 23. In all this we do not care if what we have heard about the SMC Members resigning en mass is true! Protecting the rights of our people, those who take risk, our businesses, and our people are far more noble considerations. Mr. Dowe and his cohorts have done nothing for Grenada's Carnival since 2009, except insult and infuriate the Pan men one year and the Calypsonians the next year. This year they are continuing to hold Carnival 2012 hostage by insulting the Public's knowledge by hiding the truth. They continue to try to hide behind “Pan” but we are sure, based on documentation that we have that pan has little to do with their designs. 24. The People of St. Patrick’s, St. Andrew’s, St. David’s, St. Marks, and St. George’s, Carriacou & Petite Martinique should also know that Mr. Dowe and his colleagues tried to move the show from Moonlight city, to St, George’s. 25. We refused, and asked them if people in the outer parishes don’t deserve to have activities too and pointed out that the people of the other parishes enjoy coming to moonlight city. 26. This has been a very sad episode for our country. Promoters of White in the Moonlight St. George's Grenada W.I.