Beleaguered London video producer Chris Bassoo, who promised to promote tourism in Guyana through reality-TV style videos on Facebook, is blaming broken promises from the South American country’s government for the financial troubles plaguing the video venture.
For its part, the Guyanese government said in a report by The Guyana Times that its tourism industry and commerce ministry and the Guyana Tourism Authority have “disassociated themselves” from Bassoo and his TaggTV.
Bassoo, whose parents are Guyanese-born, has been in Guyana since August after the ministry and the government gave thumbs-up to his proposal to make 50 online videos about the Third World country and agreed to cut through red tape to get the videos produced.
Bassoo was to show off Guyana as a Caribbean tourism destination — with Jaclyn Miles, Miss Canada 2012, as one of the hosts — and give product placement to business sponsors of the venture. So far 26 episodes have been posted on TaggTV’s Facebook page, the last in March.
“It has become evident that Bassoo has failed to deliver on his obligations to those who have paid their fees and to the Guyana government who offered logistical support,” the Times report said.
“The Tourism Ministry also wishes to state unequivocally that it does not have any business relationship with Bassoo or TaggTV and, further, it has made no financial commitment to TaggTV or its producer.”
The government ministry also urged businesses that have paid TaggTV but haven’t seen anything produced “to make urgent contact” with the tourism authority.
In an e-mail, Bassoo pointed to comments made by Guyana’s tourism minister, Irfaan Ali, last summer at a news conference announcing the government’s support of the TaggTV production.
A video of the news conference was attached to Bassoo’s response to a Free Press article last week that reported Bassoo left a trail of unpaid bills and dissatisfied TaggTV customers in London — some of whom gave free services and products to Bassoo — when he left for Guyana last summer.
On his TaggTV Facebook page, Bassoo called the article “a hatchet job” full of misrepresentations, including how much money he owes.
The news conference with the tourism minister was posted on YouTube. In it, Ali urged local businesses to support the project to the tune of $150,000 US.
The initiative would have “high costs,” but the budget submitted by Bassoo “was not only reasonable but is very acceptable,” Ali said.
Ali called the project “an opportunity for Guyana,” quoting marketing studies that estimated businesses would grow 7% in a year with social media marketing.
But Bassoo blamed TaggTV’s woes — “the fatal blunder,” his posted response to the Free Press article said — on Ali and an undelivered guaranteed commitment from the government.
“I premised all of my business decisions on the influx of capital as promised by Ali, capital that never came,” the posting said.
He called the project a “debacle” but hasn’t turned his back on his commitments and was “seeking to keep a line of communication open with those I am indebted to.”
The posting said TaggTV is “retooling with new investors . . . convinced of the innovativeness, the integrity and capacity for growth of the model.”
Several of his employees who went on the Guyana trip told The Free Press they weren’t paid the promised $5,000 each for their work.
A Free Press reporter went to Guyana to see the early stages of the project on a Caribbean charter airline that got excited about the project and flew some Londoners to the South American country.