LAW enforcement officials here and in the United States should not let the baffling case of the sudden cancellation of a concert in Georgetown on Monday night by the American Grammy-nominated singer T-Pain go to rest just like that.

Media reports said he pulled out of the Hits and Jams after-Mash concert in Georgetown because he reportedly received word that he would be kidnapped and killed should he travel to Guyana.

According to one newspaper, Kerwin Bollers and Rawle Ferguson, organisers of the show, said the singer’s management would not reveal the names of the persons the information was received from but would only say that they got an e-mail and a phone call from a group which said that it had credible information that the singer would be kidnapped and killed should he set foot here.

The newspaper said the organisers received the information around 11 pm on Saturday and they told the media Sunday that no amount of persuasion on their part or from their associates in the U.S. could change the singer’s camp’s minds.

“He is a young singer and he is scared and his mother is scared…”, Bollers reportedly told the media.

The concert was scheduled to continue on Monday night with other performers and with organizers promising refunds to those who wanted because of the T-Pain no-show.

But this is a case not just about patrons getting back their money.

It is a smirch on the good name of this country which the government and law enforcement and other agencies have fought long and hard to maintain after decades of it being dubbed an unsafe place for travellers. There are several other countries we can name in the Caribbean which are ranked very dangerous for overseas visitors, including Americans, and which regularly host concerts by performers way above the rank of T-Pain.

International performers of the likes of Akon have performed here with no threat to their safety and the excuse proffered for the cancellation of the T-Pain concert in Georgetown is a hard pill to swallow. Guyana received well-deserved praise for hosting the Caribbean Festival of Arts here last year with no security breaches and our troops are to be an integral part of the security arrangements for the Summit of the Americas in Trinidad in April this year.

The organizers and T-Pain have to come better than they have so far done and the authorities here and in the U.S. should insist that they produce the evidence to back up the claims about the threat to the singer.

If there are crackpots or entertainment terrorists here who pose a threat to visiting performers, the authorities have to insist that those with information that may help them track these people down come forward without delay.

Too much is at stake to sweep this baffling T-Pain case under the carpet with mere apologies to those here who may be counted among his fans.