The Tribune

By LEANDRA ROLLE

Tribune Staff Reporter

lrolle@tribunemedia.net

OPERATORS of the Christmas Carnival are still seeking to persuade the government to allow the annual event to operate despite its request being rejected from the Ministry of Health.

Officials revealed last week that concerns about social distancing and the organisers’ ability to consistently enforce current health rules had factored into the ministry’s decision to reject the holiday event.

Manager and coordinator of Midways by McCafferty Enterprises, Joseph Alberts has since said his company will “talk to other people in the political platform” in hopes of changing the government’s mind.

However, it is not clear if the company’s attempts have yet proven successful.

When The Tribune arrived at the site yesterday, many of the attractions were still standing and there was no sign staff were in the process of breaking down the equipment.

After attempts to get comment from carnival operators on the matter were unsuccessful, The Tribune contacted a government spokesperson who suggested that organisers intended to re-apply to the Ministry of Health for permission to operate.

However, he could not confirm whether they had done so as yet.

The ministry’s decision to deny their request came after carnival officials brought their equipment into the country, an initiative that was said to be quite costly.

A company representative told reporters that Prime Minister Philip “Brave” Davis gave them permission to host its event, but this was denied by Press Secretary Clint Watson last week.

“Absolute nonsense,” Mr Watson said. “The Prime Minister has never spoken about this issue, neither has he been involved in this issue. An operator says they got approval from somebody and a national leader in our country then says the Prime Minister and Minister of Health are on different pages? How can you take that based on what somebody has said outside of your country? The Prime Minister does not approve carnivals coming into the country.”

Mr Watson also explained that while the operators were legally able to enter the country and set up, they never had official approval from the Ministry of Health, something he said should have been obtained first.

“If you express a concern, you wanna come and so forth we say these are the approvals that are required, you can go and get approvals from various things. Included in that was, of course, the health protocol that will be required from the Ministry of Health.

“I think that was the final approval they were waiting on. It’s not a matter of ‘we’re here and we’re hoping that this happens’. The agreement that is made every year is that you come into the country, you make your request to come in, we tell you the approvals that will be necessary… but at the end of the day all of the approvals have to be in place.”

He added: “They never had approval from the Ministry of Health, that’s what they were waiting on…Let me explain it a different way, you can come to the country and say I want to come to try and set up shop to do something particular.”

Last year, the Minnis administration decided to not allow the holiday carnival to take place due to the COVID-19 pandemic. However, this year’s requests come as daily COVID-19 cases and hospitalisations continue to record low numbers.