The ACTe Memorial “does not meet the ambitions of its initial project to make Guadeloupe the world capital of research on the slave trade and slavery”. This is the clear observation made by the regional audit chamber (CRC) of Guadeloupe in a report published Monday.
Inaugurated in 2015 by President François Hollande, the ACTe Memorial became a public establishment for cultural cooperation in July 2019, a period from which the CRC is studying the management of the national museum. The report methodically points out the establishment’s failings, both in its management and in the service provided to the public.
A “very degraded social dialogue”
“Its permanent exhibition was closed almost 40% of the time between 2019 and 2022”, indicates the report which also notes the reduction “of spaces dedicated to welcoming the public, artists and researchers”. The magistrates also note very poor administrative management: board of directors which “is not regularly constituted”, no scientific committee, nor Economic and Social Council.
The consequence, explains the report, is “a very degraded social dialogue”, but also a confusion in skills, thus creating obstacles to decisions by general management.
Financial risks
The magistrates also devote a passage of their writing to the “disingenuous” and “deficit” accounts, without sufficient operating income (“6% of the total income of the controlled period”) for the Memorial, whose financial management “presents major financial risks, litigation and fraud”. “The interference of the Region disregards the independence of the establishment,” also relates the report, which lists the regular interventions of the president of the board of directors, Ary Chalus, also president of the Region, in the affairs of the ACTe Memorial.
“We did everything to make the ACTe Memorial fail on the grounds that it was my work,” Victorin Lurel, initiator of the museum and opponent of Ary Chalus, told AFP, who also denounces a reduced role for the State. , particularly in financing. “It was impossible for the director to succeed in this context,” he added, also highlighting the flaws in general management. The general director, Laurella Rinçon, was brought before the Pointe-à-Pitre court on Tuesday for “attacking freedom of access to public markets”. The trial was adjourned until January 23.