President of the Grenada Professional Association of Calypsonians and Tents (GPACT), Adrian Thomas believes that it is a political move on the part of the Keith Mitchell-led Government to have foreign judges brought into the country to adjudicate in this year's calypso competitions.

The issue of foreign judges being contracted for this year's calypso competitions was first made public by Prime Minister Mitchell at a public meeting of his New National Party (NNP) in St. Andrew's in May.

In an exclusive interview with GRENADA TODAY Newspaper, Thomas said his association is yet to receive an official communique from the government advising them about the move in having foreign judges.

"We have heard the rumour, we have heard the news and we regard this thing as one of the most retrogressive step in the calypso artform, and we really hope that his does not take any root in Grenada because it will be a sad day for our culture," he remarked.

Thomas who goes under the calypso name, "Persuader," said that his executive has taken the decision to oppose the move to have foreign judges participate in the judging of local calypsoes. He made it clear that GPACT is not afraid of having foreign judges judge but would not bow to political pressures.

"What we are saying is that we will not succumb ourselves to any political move to stifle calypso in Grenada. Knowing the history where the information came from, on a political platform, and the preamble before the statement was made by the Prime Minister, we thought that this is a total political move to stifle calypsonians who deal with political commentary in the country," he said.

Thomas pointed out that the trend to fight down the political commentaries by calypsonians started over ten years ago by the NNP Government. He said that for the past ten years calypsonians have had to fight for calypso to survive.

He also disclosed that the calypso association no longer enjoys representation on the Grenada Carnival Committee (GCC). According to Thomas, GPACT learnt from GCC Chairman, Thomas Matthew that it was a Cabinet decision to bring in foreign judges and that GPACT was kept in the dark.

He stated that his association was informed that the issue of foreign judges was also raised by the Grenada Judges Association with the Minister of Tourism and Culture, Dr. Clarice Modeste-Curwen.

He said the local body was told that some of the home judges are too close with calypsonians, and that too many calypsonians call the names of persons in their songs and get away with it, among other things. The GPACT President announced that his body has put forward a request to meet with the Minister on the matter.

He said if that meeting fails to materialise then they will meet with the local Judges Association to hold further discussions on the issue.   Thomas said the primary objective of meeting with Minister Modeste-Curwen is to get first-hand information from her that foreign judges are indded being used this year in local competitions.

"We need to get the information from the horse's mouth, and we don't want to act on rumours. We must know where the judges are coming from, we must know who are the people co-ordinating the judges from the other islands," he added. The GPACT boss indicated that based on the meeting, the grouping will then be able to determine its next move.

Thomas said that while no firm decision has been taken in opposing the foreign judges, it is GPACT's intention to write the calypso associations from within the OECS, Barbados and Trinidad informing them about the issues being faced by the local fraternity, especially in the area of political commentary.

"We will also let them know that GPACT, as an organisation, will not welcome them, (the foreign judges) in Grenada, and any problem that calypsonians are to have in the future, we will regard their involvement as being part of that problem, and not part of the solution," he remarked. There are unconfirmed reports that moves are affot in Grenada to have the Mighty Sparrow and Calypso Rose from Trinidad and Tobago to be part of the judging panel.

The Ministry of Culture says that the decision to have foreign judges resulted from a petition signed by over two hundred calypsonians urging them to resort to that action. Thomas stated that as far as he is concerned no one other than the minister and the leadership of the GCC has seen that much talked about petition list.

He said what is known for sure is that the Groovy Soca Monarch competition that GPACT is organising will utilise the local judges."We will not be going for foreign judges. And it is time that Grenadians learn to use what they have," he added.