5th Melanesian Festival of Arts and Culture biggest ever

The 5th Melanesian Festival of Arts and Culture has been described as the biggest event ever organized by any one country within the Melanesian Spearhead Group.

Chairman of the Festival Organizing Committee says a record of 2,500-plus participants would have attended the event by the end of the festival.

Dr. Jacob Simet said this when refuting claims by critics including the Minister for Sports, Pacific Games and National Events, Justin Tkatchenko, that the festival was an absolute disgrace.

Mr Tkatchenko had posted on his Facebook page that the Melanesian Festival of Arts and Culture was mismanaged, totally unorganised and was an embarrassment.

Dr Simet while admitting there were some problems in the beginning with logistics especially food and lodging for the MSG countries due to the early arrivals, says the festival is by far the biggest ever in terms of size, days and the number of participants involved.

"Some of the delegations who have arrived have been quite taken aback by the way we have tried to get them to see parts of our country like Kokopo, and Alotau and Hagen and Wewak because they know that Moresby is not Papua New Guinea."

Dr Simet however urges all the critics to provide alternatives instead of speaking for the sake of talking.