Minister in the Office of the Prime Minister, Nicholas Morris, is defending State broadcaster TTT Limited, dismissing accusations of political interference after audio problems affected a performance by a calypsonian during the Calypso Monarch Finals on Carnival Sunday.
The incident has since prompted opposition voices demanding the release of technical logs and an independent investigation.
But Minister Morris insisted that the issue was purely technical and rejected claims that anyone sought to mute the calypsonian’s microphone.
He argued that the controversy was being fuelled by political mischief rather than evidence.
“When the issue occurred, we contacted the CEO of TTT. The CEO and the technical team of TTT provided a report on the issue. And for those calling for an independent investigation into this issue, I want to say that the staff at TTT are independent. They weren’t hired by the UNC. They were there. We met them there. And we will not allow people to tarnish the staff at TTT firstly. So there’s no need for an independent investigation because the team at TTT, who we met there, did their investigation. They provided a report. Secondly, this is not the first time that TTT has had issues like this. I’ve raised before, in 2024, while then Leader of the Opposition was speaking at the Divali Nagar, TTT had a breakdown.”
The Minister emphasised that the government had no reason or desire to suppress criticism from any cultural performer.
“Today, on behalf of TTT, on behalf of the government, we apologise to the viewers, we apologise to the fans, and we apologise to Mr. Francis. But I’ve said clearly before, the UNC is not afraid of criticism. The Prime Minister is not afraid of criticism. Not a single member of our 28 MPs, our 26 MPs, and our Tobago friends are afraid of criticism. So we will never dare to mute a microphone. Let us now kill that issue. We have a country to run.”