Browne calls for audit of Nicki Minaj show; promoter says Browne got facts wrong

Diego Martin Central MP Dr Amery Browne is keeping his focus on the Nicki Minaj concert which took place at the Hasely Crawford Stadium, Port-of-Spain, on October 30 and is now calling for an audit of the show.

Browne has raised objections both inside and outside of Parliament about the show, which featured other local artistes. It was staged by an organisation known as Project Records in collaboration with the Ministry of Sport and Youth Affairs.

He raised his concerns in Parliament last week while debating the Anti-Gang bill but Speaker Wade mark shut him up for making irrelevant comments and not focusing on the business at hand.

Now he is demanding an audit of the show to determine if the money came from the allocation for the youth development budget. He claims that his sources, which he did not name, have told him that money from that budget was used to pay for the concert.

He has been highly critical of the show, which he said was full of expletives, describing it as a “youth decay project”. 

Browne claims that the Government spent money to bring Minaj to Trinidad and also paid for advertising, appearance fees, managers’ fees , stage cost and other things.

The MP said he wants to know if "a private individual" benefited from the sale of tickets for the concert.

“That must be a concern to every single citizen and it is something the Government has to respond to. They have been very silent so far on this matter and they seem very offended when legitimate questions are asked about this particular project,” he said.

He said government spent money on the show while youth groups in Diego Martin and other parts of the country were denied funds for their development projects.

"If the youth development budget is being depleted for youth decay projects, I think we are heading in the wrong direction," Browne said.

The Guardian newspaper interviewed show promoter Darryl Braxton of Project Records who said Browne could have easily contacted him if he needed information about the concert. He said the MP got his facts wrong.

Braxton told the paper the show promoters included b-mobile, Carib and others businesses as well as and the Ministry of Sport and Youth Affairs. He claimed that he also used his own funds and that the event has left him “out of pocket.”

The paper said Braxton insisted the show was not a ministry project and that it ran at a loss.