By: Precious Mills
BASSETERRE, St. Kitts (Thursday 18th June 2026) — “This year it’s even more important for us to take our rules very seriously.” That warning came from Permanent Secretary in the Ministry of Tourism Tivanna Wharton at a stakeholders’ meeting held Thursday 18th June 2026 at the Warner Park Cricket Stadium as preparations build for the 28th staging of the St. Kitts Music Festival. She said the introduction of new systems — including QR-based accreditation and controlled access zones — is designed to reduce breaches and improve safety across the festival grounds. “I don’t mean to sound like the bad one here but there are so many wrong things that happened at the festival that we’re trying to minimise this year.”
She was clear that enforcement will be strict: “Truth be told, if we find that persons are using their passes improperly, we’re going to revoke your pass. We may also revoke your ability to work with the committee for the next couple of years.” She also addressed concerns about media personnel who have previously used their passes to get into the front stage and then passed them to other persons: “We’re not doing that, guys.” On access zones: “There will be access zones by each of them. If you have access to a particular area, you can go there. If you attempt to go to an area and you don’t have the access, we will see that on the back end and we’re going to have a conversation with you.” She stressed that all requests for additional access must follow proper channels and that CCTV monitoring and digital tracking will be fully operational during the festival.