SHTA comments on late change in Carnival holidays

At approximately 6 pm on Thursday 4/28 we learned through Social Media that the Council of Ministers (COM) decided to change the public Carnival Holiday slated for Saturday, April 29, 2016 to Tuesday May 3, 2016.

When last minute, insignificant decisions like this one are made by our COM’s without proper notice or communication to the public it makes you wonder and question the motivation.

Two scenarios come to mind:

1. A politically motivated decision in an election year to gain favor with the electorate
2. Jouvert was that good that we want to extend the party over an even longer 4 day weekend

Besides the scenarios above from the business and practical aspects this is what we would like to know:

1. What was the reason for making this decision at the last minute and not say by April 1^st or at the very least the start of Carnival?
2. What is the economic impact on lost revenues from businesses closing an additional day, we ask the Minister of Finance for his take on this?
3. What is the impact or repercussion in regards to the labor laws and CLA’s since businesses by law cannot change employees schedules with such short notice?  We ask the Minister of Labor for his take on this?
4. What is the economic impact to government from switching a public Holiday from falling on a Saturday to a Tuesday when most government offices should be open to conduct the people’s business; was any analysis done on lost productivity? Minister of Finance can you please comment?
5.  Based on what law does the COM have the authority to grant employees an extra day off? We can understand it if they opt to give their employees an extra day off but wonder whether they can do the same for ours?

Perhaps we should look on the bright side and calculate how much we save when the Government is not working if it means they have one less day to squander public funds?

Decisions of this amateurish caliber, will likely be remembered far longer than the strides this Government has made with regard to passing a balanced budget, that was even approved by CFT.  The Carnival holiday aside,  we would like to see our country get back to business.