Committees that organise festivals around the country will soon be guided by a regulation to ensure transparency and accountability in the management of those festivals.
The festival regulations which are at the drafting stage will ensure that money collected from festivals are used properly for the public good.
Members of different festival committees, municipal councils and special administrators are having discussions today on the draft regulations at Civic Centre in Suva.
A representative from the Solicitor General’s Office is also present at the meeting.
While speaking at the workshop, Minister for Local Government Premila Kumar says there have been numerous complaints about the organising of festivals which ranges from lack of accountability of the funds raised during the festival; lack of transparency in the utilisation of the funds and lack of audit of the accounts by an independent auditor; regular meetings not held and over expenditure.
She says with the previous allegations of financial abuse by committee members, the need for festival regulations was urgent.
Kumar says they also needed to respond to public criticism regarding the accountability and transparency of the festivals being organised around the country.
She says sponsors were also concerned about how the festivals were organised.
The Minister further says people were getting tired of the same rides, same food and same style.
She says nothing changed and that probably happened because the committee members never changed.
Kumar says some people may think that festivals are small events that raise around $100,000 but the Hibiscus Festival is close to a million-dollar event.
In 2019, a case regarding a former Chairperson of Hibiscus Events Group was referred to FICAC.
