Funding Row Clouds Garifuna Settlement Day Preparations

With Garifuna Settlement Day just weeks away, a funding dispute is threatening to overshadow preparations in Punta Gorda. The local branch of the National Garifuna Council says it initially received none of its usual two-thousand, nine-hundred-dollar allocation and later got only two thousand dollars, forcing organizers to consider scaling back some November activities. But NGC President Alex Nolberto says the controversy resulted from a delay, not a funding cut. He insists the outstanding nine hundred dollars has now been paid and the branch has received its full allocation. Still, the confusion has raised questions about how the Council distributes funding for one of Belize’s most important cultural celebrations.

 

Alex Nolberto, President, National Garifuna Council

“It was brought to my attention. I think it’s an, it’s an unfortunate event. I am saddened by it, and it should not have been done the way it’s done. Um, but that being said, the way the NGC works is that each branch is allocated a subvention So what had happened, we went back to the executive team, looked at last year’s submission, and we tried to mirror that with some increases across various branches, particularly the larger branches and the more active branches. In that calculation, there were two branches which got a reduction. PG was one, and I can’t remember the other branch. But the president had reached out to me when she got the initial disbursement, and yes, rightly so, she had concerns in relation to the reduction. And so, I took that into consideration, and I then advised the treasurer to remit the difference. So there was a difference of nine hundred dollars which was remitted to the branch. But for some reason, there was either a timing issue and that publication came out to the effect that they were, they got reduced by the nine hundred and hence this wave of, um, unfortunate conversations surrounding the nine hundred dollars. So I just want to advise our people that this is not the time to be squabbling and fighting over, you know, what is, what in my mind is a distraction and a major one at that, at a time when we should be united and when we should be moving our culture forward. So we are working through that. That has been addressed, and we are on a good footing towards the upcoming celebration events.”

 

Nolberto said the Punta Gorda branch has now received its full allocation, adding that branches are expected to raise additional funds since the council’s sixty thousand subvention is insufficient to cover both celebrations and year-round initiatives, and he plans to publish a breakdown of expenditures to show how the funds were spent.

 

Attention readers: This online newscast is a direct transcript of our evening television broadcast. When speakers use Kriol, we have carefully rendered their words using a standard spelling system.

 

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