| Who paid Movado, Ne-Yo, Bravo and Gayle? Follow the money |
| Wednesday, 25 August 2010 | |
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By Freddie Kissoon “Follow the money” will always remain one of journalism’s most quoted mantras. Even if newspaper journalism dies, replaced by the online format, investigative reporting will never fade. For those in the media too young to have acquaintance with “follow the money,” it is about the investigative relentlessness of two Washington Post journalists to prove that in 1974, President Nixon was involved in covering up the break-in of the offices of the Democratic Party in the Watergate Hotel. The two reporters were provided with their materials through secret contacts with the Deputy Head of the FBI (Deep Throat). At one meeting in an underground parking lot, when leads were drying up, Deep Throat said to Bob Woodward, “Follow the money.” He was advising them to look at the payment trail and it would lead them right up to Nixon. In Guyana, if investigative journalists follow the money some shocking revelations about the connection between Roman circuses and the forthcoming elections will be revealed. In a failed state, an elected dictatorship or in a fascist regime, anything goes. There are lines that have been crossed a long time ago by the ruling oligarchy in Guyana that would have toppled the government in most countries, but in this territory anything can happen without a reaction. It can only happen in Guyana. On Friday evening while Movado was performing, tremendous pressure was brought to bear on the barricade that separated the VIP stand from the other section. As the wall collapsed, there was a deluge inside the VIP stand. Two Kaieteur staffers told me they watched as dozens of persons were openly robbed, one a Minister’s son, the other the son of an unashamed Jagdeo supporter. I was only told about this by the two staffers on Saturday. I could not carry it in my Sunday column which was already submitted earlier the morning. On Saturday night when Ne-Yo took centre stage, dozens of cars were broken into. Is this country ready for international performances? Let’s get back to the money trail. Over the past months, international stars from sports and entertainment have poured into the National Stadium. DJ Stress sponsored a Twenty/20 cricket match and two high-priced West Indian stars participated, Dwayne Bravo and Chris Gayle. These are well-paid IPL players who are not going to display their talent in Guyana for free. Could that match have covered the fees of the two men? I doubt it. Then came Movado and Ne-Yo as part of one package. Ne-Yo is no up-and-coming talent who will take chicken feed to get into the limelight. He is already famous. By Ne-Yo’s standard, he will not accept a figure less than US$300,000. That is a lot of money that has to be raised by the promoters for Ne-Yo, his entourage and the other performers for Friday night and Saturday evening. There was a visible presence of members of the ruling oligarchy in all these sports and entertainment shows at the National Stadium. In fact that is putting it mildly. One gets the impression that the little dictators may be the real moving hand between these cricket matches and musical concerts. My opinion (which needs to be followed up by investigative energies) is that there may be a policy of funding some Roman circuses for two reasons. One is to use the resulting “popularity” that is supposed to accrue from the National Stadium bacchanals to make the third term push easier. Did you hear how Ne-Yo made references to certain people? When stars go around the world to perform, they simply do not have time for politicians, but it can only happen in Guyana. Members of the oligarchy made sure they were photographed with Ne-Yo and made sure Ne-Yo mentioned their names to the audience. After all, Ne-Yo was obliging his paymaster. Finally, keep the Roman circuses going and divert people’s attention from the upcoming elections and the rising crescendo of racial vexation which is beginning to resound as the election draws closer. So who next is coming? There is now a thing called a grudge match between Guyana and Trinidad & Tobago. Then of course Phantom of the Opera may be performed at the Stadium with a film show of a giant-sized primate on the rampage. |
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