Grenadian Legislator Calls For Cancelation Of Carnival 2020

ST. GEORGE’S, Grenada, April 27, 2020 (CMC) – A legislator in the upper House of Parliament, Senator Andre Lewis, has called on the government of Grenada to cancel the island’s 2020 carnival celebrations – Spicemas — because of the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic.

Grenada, which hosts the final summer festival in the Caribbean, is yet to make a public announcement about the cancellation, although other islands have already postponed their carnival festivities until 2021.

“We think that this is something that ought to be done, in the interest and safety of our people; there will be 2021, 22, 23, 24, forever, and there will be carnival activity every succeeding year,” observed Senator Lewis, who is the current Head of the Grenada Trades’ Union Council (GTUC).

Grenada’s carnival is scheduled to climax in mid-August, but was scheduled to be launched on May 2.

In March, the Spicemas Corporation, which manages, markets and administrates the affairs of the carnival celebrations, cancelled an event to launch this year’s carnival.

Lewis also disclosed that the labour movement has written to the government, recommending that workers, both in the private and public sectors, do not lose wages, for the three months period, beginning March 23.

Speaking, today, on the Grenada Broadcasting Network’s “To-the-Point” program, he disclosed that the labour movement has suggested that the government could redirect non-essential allocations, in the 2020 budget, to assist with purchasing essential supplies for COVID-19-related matters.

“We made that request, very early, because we understood what was likely to happen. We also went further to say that funds, secured from the World Bank and other funding agencies for COVID relief purposes, should be used for securing medical supplies, equipment for the protection and treatment of virus-related ailments, and to fund relief pay of workers in the private and public sectors, affected by wage disruptions,” the senator posited.