The Guyana cultural delegation is back after a successful performance at Carifesta VIII in Suriname and plans are already afoot to showcase the group in various parts of the country.

Permanent Secretary in the Ministry of Culture, Youth and Sport Keith Booker revealed this intention at a press briefing in the foyer of the National Cultural Centre in Georgetown yesterday.

“What our intention is, is to keep them together for a logical period of time, allowing them to take the show, possibly, to different parts of the country. We are looking at this very carefully against the fact that some of them are persons employed by various agencies who gave them a little time off,” Booker told reporters.

The Guyana cultural delegation, which travelled to the neighbouring Dutch republic two Fridays ago, “has done well”, reported coordinator Raymon Cummings. The Golden Arrowhead fluttered proudly in a nation parade on Independence Square in central Paramaribo when the festivities kicked off on August 24 and on Tuesday, the group took the ‘Guyana Ting A Merry’ to Albina, a border village close to the French Guiana border. The following day, patrons at the Grand Market were able to view the myriad of vocalists, dancers, drummers and other musicians.

On Thursday, Guyana was represented with a theatre performance and on Friday, the show went down to Nickerie, which has a large Guyanese population.

“In addition to that, we had the group from Sand Creek, Region Nine, who performed at the Indigenous festival [in the Palmentuin] on Monday and on Wednesday and Thursday... they also were well-received and, as a result of their performance there, they have been invited to another indigenous festival some time later in this year in French Guiana,” Cummings reported.

He said, generally, the conduct of the group was good and that they did Guyana proud. Cummings yesterday dispelled rumours that one of the members of the delegation was arrested for shoplifting, stating instead, that it was a misunderstanding.

According to Cummings, on August 23, after the team arrived, some members of the delegation, accompanied by a liaison officer, went shopping in Paramaribo.

“One of the guys purchased some stuff and there were some tags on them that beeps when you coming out of the store if you did not pay. It seems to have been some mix up and the clerk did not take off all of the stubs from the goods that he bought.

As a result of that, when he was going out of the store the beepers went off and they [the store clerks] started to behave in an alarmed manner, claiming that he [the Guyanese] was trying to shoplift.”

But the coordinator said when the items were checked against the receipts, it was discovered that they were all paid for and that the clerk had failed to take off the tags.

“By the time that was done, it was already reported to the Carifesta Secretariat and we had an apology on the issue and that was the end of it,” Cummings said.

He said at no time was the matter reported to the police. Cummings said he was at the Carifesta Secretariat when the matter was reported to him and he immediately contacted the Guyana Ambassador to Suriname.

“[An official from the embassy] was sent down to us immediately. He came down and he, more or less, dealt with the matter...He was there to represent us. They are the people who really dealt with the matter in detail. They had their interpreter,” Cummings explained.

One official within the Guyana Embassy in Suriname corroborated the coordinator’s tale, and told Stabroek News yesterday via a telephone interview that “the embassy was apprised of the matter [and] the ambassador looked at it.”

The cultural group was a part of a near 100-member contingent from Guyana, the country in which the Caribbean Festival of Arts began.

Other members of the contingent, who were organised through the Ministry of Culture, included Carnegie, craftsmen and women and artist Philip Moore who was one of five Caribbean artists honoured for their sterling contribution to art and culture.

The City Jammers Steel Band and a number of designers also showcased South America’s lone English-speaking country and according to Booker, “all and all, Guyana was well represented at Carifesta.”