The Tribune

By KEILE CAMPBELL

Tribune Staff Reporter

kcampbell@tribunemedia.net

JUNKANOO Corporation of New Providence chairman Dion Miller said the original Valley Boys group, led by Brian Adderley, would participate as the iconic group in the Boxing Day and New Year’s Day parade competitions, not the breakaway group Trevor Davis leads.

He said Mr Adderley’s group registered for the parades first before the organisation split into two.

He said Mr Davis’ group was given the chance to register for the competitions under a different name, but did not do so by the registration deadline on June 1. He said the breakaway group could participate in the parades unofficially, but not the competitions.

“This is an internal issue that the Valley Boys are going through and it’s the hope of everyone that they can find some common ground to either unite or have a clean break from one another and move forward,” he said. “I think the country, the Junkanoo community are exhausted of the back and forth, the innuendo and we’d like to get back to some sort of normalcy and get to preparing for the upcoming parade.”

 In June, Mr Davis said the rupture in the Valley Boys reflects concern about how the organisation had been run over the years. He said it lacked fiscal accountability, avoided elections and failed to copyright its symbols. He believes his group has the support of 60 per cent of people who typically rush with the Valley Boys and said it has secured one major sponsor: Think Simple.

 Mr Adderley’s group held a press conference on Tuesday when he accused his counterparts of engaging in character assassination.

 Although Mr Miller has said registration as a non-profit organisation is unnecessary for the JCNP to recognise a Junkanoo group, Mr Davis said he registered his group as an NPO under the Valley Boys name after realising the other group was not registered.

 Youth, Sports and Culture Minister Mario Bowleg has said the ministry will not intervene in the dispute between the groups. However, he said yesterday that Junkanoo groups should be registered as NPOs.

“All of them should have been from back then non-profit organisations,” he said, endorsing a view Mr Davis has expressed. He said for now, groups can still be registered for parades using a business license or an NPO registration as they have traditionally done.

 He suggested that when the Valley Boys fight dies down, the ministry will push the JCNP to ensure groups are registered as NPOs.

 Mr Miller said the ministry and the JCNP will discuss such matters “at the appropriate time”.