by RICKY JORDAN

WHILE CULTURAL OFFICIALS were patting themselves on the back about this controversy-free season, no official from two stakeholder organisations went on stage to participate in yesterday's Party Monarch prize-giving ceremony.

As emcee Mac Fingall pleaded repeatedly for representatives of the Barbados Association of Tent Managers (BATMAN) and United Artistes of Barbados (UAB) to come on stage for the announcement of the results, the heads of those bodies were noticeably absent.

This was because of a disagreement over backstage passes not being issued to the organisations, whose presidents were yesterday determined not to join National Cultural Foundation (NCF) officials on stage for the presentation.

BATMAN head Sinclair Gittens said earlier in the day at the East Coast: "We will not be going on stage today. We are protesting the treatment to BATMAN and UAB regarding passes as well as the fact that the points from the Pic-O-De-Crop preliminaries and semis have not yet been released to us as stakeholders in this festival."

UAB head David Kid Site Piggott, who is also reigning Pic-O-De-Crop Monarch and will defend his crown on Friday, was also at the East Coast and said afterward the union was not invited to supervise the presentation as usual.

"UAB gave NCF the name of our vice-president Merle Niles to be the backstage delegate and to supervise the presentations, but the union was not given a backstage pass," he said last night.

"We also get to see the results of the Party Monarch before the official announcements, but that courtesy was not extended this year," he added.

Reiterating previous controversial discrepancies, including a case which led to former monarch Romeo having to be reinstated, Kid Site said it was disrespectful for the NCF to treat UAB this way.

Sources close to BATMAN said yesterday that further action would be taken, especially if the points were not released to UAB and BATMAN by Friday.

Last Thursday, BATMAN told the public the NCF had offered tickets for the first time ever and they were only given two backstage passes after Gittens threw the tickets at an NCF official.

UAB got no passes, according to secretary Peter Boyce.

All efforts to get a comment from NCF officials last night were futile. *rickyjordan@nationnews.com