Opposition scolds Culture Minister over Emancipation Day funding

Zakiya Uzoma-Wadada, executive director of the Emancipation Support Committee of TT at the Lidj Yasu Omowale Emancipation Village 2025 at Queen's Park Savannah, Port of Spain on July 27. - Photo by Faith Ayoung

OPPOSITION members Dr Nyan Gadsby-Dolly and former culture minister Randall Mitchell strongly criticised Culture Minister Michelle Benjamin for a July 27 press release which addressed comments made by the Emancipation Support Committee of Trinidad and Tobago’s (ESCTT) executive director Zakiya Uzoma-Wadada about funding and its operations.

The Michelle Benjamin-led ministry said, in its release, that the committee had arrived at a crossroads in its existence.

Shortly after that release, the ministry posted pics of her and Uzoma-Wadada at the recently opened Lidj Yasu Omowale Emancipation Village with the caption ­– We Stand United.

Benjamin said in the release, “From the inception of our discussion, my ministry, albeit only three months old, has been concerned with the manner in which the ESCTT has spent the allocations received and its tangible returns to the public.”

In that release she referenced what she described as “poor turnout” at last Friday’s opening of the Emancipation Village.

“It is either that the raised consciousness to which the executive chair referred has dropped precipitously or the organisation has not been doing enough to bring these desirable returns to the public of which they speak.

“In other words, while the ESCTT is concerned about the monies not yet received, they have not kept up their end of the bargain by engaging the public.”

That release also showed grants and sponsorship allocated to the committee between 2020-2024.

Repetitive programming, poor marketing and visibility, entry fees, outdated planning models, lack of collaboration with wider African diaspora, need for greater stakeholder relations and inclusivity of local creative crafts were ways in which the festival needed reform, the release said.

Benjamin said these were not criticisms for criticism's sake but “necessary truths.”

“We cannot allow complacency to hold our culture hostage. The vision must evolve, or it risks fading into irrelevance,” she said.

Director, Regional and Pan-African Affairs Khafra Kambon, left, and Ministry of Culture and Community Development parliamentary secretary Dr Narindra Roopnarine light a flambeau during the blessing of the grounds for the opening of the Lidj Yasu Omowale Emancipation Village, at the Queen's Park Savannah, Port of Spain on July 20. - Photo by Ayanna Kinsale

After the release, People’s National Movement (PNM) chairman Dr Nyan Gadsby-Dolly said, “So after appearing at the opening of the Emancipation Village and visiting today (July 27) with the Prime Minister, Minister Michelle Benjamin takes the opportunity to publicly disparage the ESCTT, in the midst of the season of celebration.”

Gadsby-Dolly said the recommendations made were not novel or ground-breaking and could have been discussed post-season with the committee.

“The minister’s use of this sacred period to decry, rather than honour, is disrespectful, and shows clear disdain and disregard for the African community. Poor judgement.”

Former culture minister Randall Mitchell said he was disappointed by the tone, content and timing of the ministry’s press release.

“The decision to issue such a scathing release castigating the ESCTT mere days before African Emancipation Day is insensitive and embarrassing to the very community we seek to commemorate and celebrate.

"Rather than focusing on fostering a collaborative partnership, the minister, having taken up the post a mere three months ago, has chosen to publicly scold one of the nation’s oldest and most respected cultural organisations. This scathing release says far more about the posture of the current administration than it does about the ESCTT.”

He added that collaboration and encouragement was required and not condemnation.

“To now call into question the committee’s planning, to challenge its relevance, and to lay blame at the feet of the ESCTT without first offering substantive partnership and support is unproductive and disgraceful,” he said in his social media post.

“The commemoration of African Emancipation must be preserved through mutual respect and partnership, not public excoriation. Our nation deserves better.”