National Celebrations Commission to Rethink Carnival Road March

Francis Fonseca

As the Chairman of the National Celebrations Commission, we also asked Minister Fonseca for his thoughts on rethinking the way in which the annual Carnival Road March is executed. This year saw a lot of disgruntled onlookers, disenchanted by the outbreaks of violent behavior and disrespect for revelers. Here is what Minister Fonseca had to say.

Francis Fonseca, Minister of Education

“I think the carnival road march is here to stay, but certainly I think we have to review and reevaluate the way we do it. There were some complications because the Ministry of Infrastructure had advised they couldn’t use the Belcan Bridge, so I think we discussed that already and we are going to have a special subcommittee of the National Celebrations Commission deal specifically with carnical and work specifically along with the association. So we will address that and bring along other stakeholders and voices who have expressed ideas, and good recommendations and ideas. I think we can resolve some of those issues. The police have a difficult job. When you think about the carnival, I saw it on Baymen, people were sitting there for four hours drinking. That is the nature of these things, whether you like it or not, so b the time the carnival rolls around Baymen you have a lot of people who are hyped, o be diplomatic. So, I don’t envy the police that are a difficult task to deal with. They want people celebrate and enjoy the carnival, but at the same time we can’t allow a few individuals to destroy the duty and spirit and energy of carnival for everybody else. So we are going to take a hard look. The police is a part of the commission, the BDF, everybody, so we are going to work with them to make sure we address these issues that arose this year.”