Tabor says nothing wrong with staging ‘One Nation’ concert

Despite ongoing public debate over the staging of the One Nation Concert next weekend, United Progressive Party (UPP) spokesperson, Senator Damani Tabor, says there is nothing inherently wrong with having the event.
The concert, a brainchild of Prime Minister Gaston Browne, is scheduled to take place on January 12th at the Antigua Recreation Grounds (ARG), featuring local and regional artistes.
However, Tabor believes certain things need to be done differently this time around.
“United Progressive Party is not against having fun. In fact, with all the stress of the high cost of living and the mass joblessness, we could all use the stress relief. And why not in January, because it’s going to be a rough year ahead.
“But we are saying local service providers in the entertainment industry that were promised that they would get their pay and that vouchers were sent to the Treasury and have not been paid, they need to be paid first,” he told OBSERVER media.
“We also want definitive proof as to the source of funding for the concert because last year it was debated whether it’s government or private but we never got proof of that, so we want proof as to the funding — if it’s half, half whatever the breakdown may be, we want to see how much is spent and who is funding that.”
The UPP spokesman added that if it is revealed that the government is footing the bill for the concert, then emphasis must be placed on local artistes.
“If it is government funded, we need empowerment of local artistes because if you are going to spend the money at the very least, we have to have maximum benefit for our people. The local artiste must be front and center, properly paid; it can’t just be your giving most of the benefit to the international artistes.”
Grammy award winners UB 40 were the feature act at last year’s event.