The Tribune

Monday 5.15pm UPDATE: THE Valley Boys have resigned from the Junkanoo Corporation of New Providence with immediate effect over a row about official results for the Boxing Day parade. Full story HERE.

By KHRISNA RUSSELL

Deputy Chief Reporter

krussell@tribunemedia.net

JUNKANOO Corporation of New Providence Chairman Dion Miller is "disappointed" with the Valley Boys' threat to boycott further parades after the official 2019 Boxing Day results placed the Shell Saxons as victors of the parade.

"We don't need that kind of stuff in Junkanoo," Mr Miller told The Tribune yesterday. "(There is no place for) this tribalism stuff."

Last week it was reported that the official 2019 Boxing Day results pushed the Valley Boys, the original winner into second place. The Saxons had placed second in the unofficial tally, followed by Genesis, One Family and Roots.

Several days later the Valley Boys' chairman, Brain Adderley, said the group was rejecting the decision of the Independent Review Committee saying the process was filled with mistakes. "We don't care what organisation is formed to manage the Junkanoo parade, but if these results change we will not be participating in anymore parades under the JCNP," Mr Adderley told Our News on Friday.

Responding yesterday, Mr Miller said he was surprised to learn of the Valley Boys' decision as it was not expressed in a meeting early Friday where several groups met with Prime Minister Dr Hubert Minnis. This meeting, he said, was geared toward advancing the cultural experience.

A press release from the Office of the Prime Minister said Dr Minnis invited the junkanooers to collaborate on a national plan to move the event "beyond Bay Street."

At the time, the prime minister encouraged the leaders to make the most of their upcoming conclave scheduled for March and pledged the government's support to advance the festival on the international stage. This is not the first time the Valley Boys have threatened to drop parade participation, Mr Miller said. "Well it's nothing we could really do if they decide they don't want to participate," Mr Miller said. "At the end of the day the member groups agreed that the IRC is the appellate board for the parade. So if the Valley Boys is upset with their ruling that is unfortunate.

"We are talking about a seven man independent grouping. As a matter of fact I think two of those persons on that board were nominated or recommended by the Valley Boys so their decisions are final and binding.

"The Valley Boys placed a proposition for the findings and they would like to do away with them, but you can't do away with the IRC at this juncture after they made their ruling.

"This is not the first time something like this happened, matter of fact this happened to the Saxons on about two different occasions, it happened to Roots before and it also happened to Valley Boys before."

He also said: "So the Valley Boys said Friday evening they got word that the report was ready on Thursday and so they placed their proposition to the JCNP that they would walk away and all that.

"But we don't need that kind of stuff in Junkanoo. (There is not place for) this tribalism stuff. We agreed to these things. The IRC has been in place for over a decade so that is a process that everyone agrees to.

"It's unfortunate. I know they are disappointed with the turn of events but we can't appease the Valley Boys so we will give it time to cool off and hopefully calmer heads will prevail.

"Sometimes leaders say this type of thing and then the members push for something else and they come back to the table."

It is not unusual for differences to emerge between unofficial and official results of Junkanoo parades, much to the anger of fans. The Valley Boys were a victim of such changes in 2017. The group was declared the victor according to unofficial results for the 2017 New Year's Day parade, but lost that title to Roots.

Then JCNP Chairman Silbert Ferguson cited errors in the allocation of penalties as the reason.

Mr Miller said the JCNP plans to release the official results later today. Mr Adderley could not be reached yesterday for comment.