Closing act puts Barbados in red

Barbados taxpayers ended up shelling out over 700,000 for the grand closing ceremony that brought the curtain down on a dull cricket World Cup at the Kensington Oval. The organisers chose to ignore local artists for performers from Trinidad and Tobago, who charged 500,000 for putting up the cultural show, a report in the Midweek Nation said.

Artistic director Peter Minshall was paid the amount for organising the show with belle dancers, puppets and field performers. Besides, a huge sum was spent on 8220;auditions, training, costume manufacture and shipping crates,8221; the report claimed. The 45-minute presentation was shown on TV for only 15 minutes.