The Tribune

By MALCOLM STRACHAN

THE road to Bay for Junkanoo this year is proving harder than ever.

Throughout this year, the tensions have been building as the dispute between government, the Junkanoo Corporation of New Providence (JCNP) and the various groups has been simmering – and is now boiling over.

Last week, the word came out that the JCNP would not take part in this year’s Boxing Day and New Year parades – and with them, a host of groups would not take part. No Saxons, no World Famous Valley Boys, no One Family, no Roots, and a bunch of B groups besides.

Is this real? Or is this just brinkmanship – a threat to get the government to fall in line? Over the week, I talked to a bunch of Junkanooers to get a feel of what the members felt – and those feelings are strong.

First of all, though, remember this hasn’t happened overnight. Last December, remember, the JCNP warned it was considering cancelling last year’s parades due to “continuous government interference”.

That revolved around the Ministry of Youth, Sports and Culture, led by Mario Bowleg, announcing that The Way Forward Valley Boys, which split off from The World Famous Valley Boys, would be allowed to take part in the parades that year – even though the groups had already drawn their numbers for the parade order.

At the time, the JCNP chairman, Dion Miller, said: “Prime Minister Hubert Alexander Ingraham never interfered with the administration of Junkanoo. Prime Minister Perry Christie never interfered with the administration of Junkanoo. Prime Minister Hubert Alexander Minnis never interfered with the administration of Junkanoo.”

This year, what about Prime Minister Philip “Brave” Davis? “Don’t bring me into it,” he said recently, which is hardly leading from the front.

All through the year, the clash between the two Valley factions has rumbled on, including in the courts. After one court victory for the Way Forward group, led by the prime minister’s brother, Trevor Davis, Mr Bowleg used that ruling to justify withholding seed funding from the World Famous group, led by Brian Adderley. Then another court victory comes along, this time for the other side, with the Court of Appeal saying the Registrar General permitting the registration of Mr Davis’ group was “beyond belief”. Suddenly, Mr Bowleg was saying he would “let the court deal with it” and had no response.

On top of that, the government seems to have been trying to wrest control of the parades themselves from the JCNP. The Junkanoo Authority Bill was put forward, creating a statutory authority to oversee the management, funding and operation of parades across The Bahamas, including the traditional Bay Street parades. The JCNP resisted – and much was made over a supposed poll touted by the government that said groups supported the bill.

There were mixed responses to that – and from the people I have talked to this past week, mixed feelings continue all across the board.

After last week’s story about major groups pulling out of this year’s parades, the National Junkanoo Committee (NJC) – which had been charged with organising events this year – put out a statement saying preparations were “well underway” and everything was on track, adding that groups were “in their shacks building, designing and preparing to bring their music, costumes and creativity to Bay Street this Christmas season”. It was a clarification that lacked details – namely which groups would be taking part. The NJC said it had not received any notifications from groups about a withdrawal – but there was no commitment either that the groups would attend.

The JCNP, meanwhile, put out its own statement, saying it would host two independent Junkanoo experiences on Bay this December and January that would “not conflict” with festivities organised by the government.

Those events, it said, would feature the Saxons, Roots, One Family, the Original Valley Boys, the Original Congoes, the Redland Soldiers, the Mighty Eagles and a dozen D division groups.

“This is not the end of our story,” read the statement. “It is the rebirth of a movement.”

If all this comes across as a mess, that’s because it is.

“There’s no joy in it this year,” one participant told me. “You just can’t get into the spirit of it when everybody fighting. You try to sit down to get your costume ready and you don’t know if you’re even going to be on Bay. It’s hard, man.”

Another told me: “There’s people saying they not even gonna bother this year. They just so tired and sick of it, whatever way it turns out. Why do all this, why all in such a rush?”

While the frustration is widespread, another said that something needed be done, saying: “Governments have been talking about regulating to keep Junkanoo accountable so I’m glad this is happening, but it needs to keep the politics out of it. So many thinking this is done to help Brave brother so you gotta keep the two things separate.”

Still another Junkanooer had a stark warning for the government for the upcoming general election: “They should take heed. Kill Junkanoo and they out.”

Another took issue with the JCNP itself, saying: “The JCNP talk a lot, but there are issues with the parades that haven’t been solved for years like the gap between groups, the seating, the scoring and more so something needed doing.”

What was clear from the people I talked to was the passion across the board for Junkanoo itself. What was not clear was any belief that what is happening now is the solution. I was going to write the way forward, but even that phrase has become a hot button in all of this.

Even the JCNP’s talk of two independent Junkanoo experiences could run into trouble – Mr Bowleg previously said that no private or competing events would be permitted under the new system. How he fixes his mouth to say that is, like the court said over its ruling on registration, “beyond belief”. How can you say that private bodies cannot hold an event? What kind of government prevents people from holding a gathering?

We’re into November now. There is not long left for preparations to take place. If all those preparations end up with an empty Bay Street and major groups and their supporters walking away, that will be a scar on our national culture.

The road to Bay has never been longer.