Port of Spain, Trinidad and Tobago – Prime Minister Kamla Persad-Bissessar has raised serious concerns over the alleged easy access to U.S. dollars by the promoters of the One Caribbean Music Festival, while citizens continue to struggle to obtain foreign exchange for essential items such as medicine.
Speaking during a post-Cabinet press briefing at the Red House on Thursday, Persad-Bissessar questioned how promoters were able to secure large sums of foreign currency while small business owners and the health sector reportedly face ongoing difficulties accessing forex.
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“You can’t get foreign exchange to buy medicine, and you are getting all this money?” the Prime Minister asked. “Of course it concerns me. On what grounds were they able to access it?”
Finance Minister Davendranath Tancoo has not yet presented a report on the matter to the Cabinet. Persad-Bissessar noted that it remains unclear whether the Central Bank of Trinidad and Tobago has been cooperative in providing necessary information to facilitate the investigation.
The situation gained public attention after it was revealed that Jamaican dancehall artist Vybz Kartel—whose legal name is Adidja Palmer—had been contracted to headline the music festival for US$1.35 million, with US$950,000 already reportedly paid. Kartel later pulled out of the event, citing the promoter’s failure to meet contractual obligations.
Acting Commissioner of Police Junior Benjamin confirmed that the Financial Investigations Branch (FIB) has launched a formal investigation into how the promoters accessed foreign exchange to finance the payment.
Minister Tancoo also expressed his own reservations over the weekend, describing the transaction amounts as “intriguing,” and confirmed that a probe had been initiated into how those funds were secured.
In response to the controversy, Jacho Entertainment, the festival’s production company, issued a statement on Wednesday asserting that all foreign currency transactions related to Kartel were conducted “through legal, regulated, and verifiable financial channels.”
During the same media briefing, Prime Minister Persad-Bissessar was asked about whether ministers were being discouraged from awarding contracts to friends and relatives or recusing themselves from Cabinet meetings in such situations.
She confirmed that contracts under the Community-Based Environmental Protection and Enhancement Programme (CEPEP) were not subject to open bidding, and the government is currently auditing those agreements.
She stated firmly, “I will be frowning on it very highly if ministers were to come to Cabinet to recuse themselves. I will not tolerate a minister coming 171 times to recuse themselves from a Cabinet meeting.”
The comment appeared to be a veiled reference to ongoing public frustration over ethics in governance and transparency in contract awards.
