Valley Boys Leader Gus Cooper is vowing that he will continue to fight to hold on to his group’s New Year’s Day win even though an independent review committee has been appointed to determine the true winner of the Junkanoo parade.
“I will not rest until I have secured answers to these issues even if I have to resort to some unorthodox means,” said Mr. Cooper, who spoke to the Bahama Journal Tuesday.
Riled members of the Valley Boys Junkanoo group have lodged a formal protest against the overturning of the New Year’s Day Parade’s unofficial Junkanoo results.
“We had no problem with the initial results, but efforts to alter the results without reason is what we were concerned about,” Mr. Cooper said.
The group’s protest comes on the heels of Saxons Leader Percy ‘Vola’ Francis lodging his protest last week after the Valley Boys edged out his group by six points on New Year’s Day.
That protest called for a review of the final scores after the Saxons won six of the eight major categories for the parade, but did not win the overall event.
The review reportedly involved a re-check of the penalty scores, which revealed discrepancies between the six judges, assigned to evaluate rule infractions.
“To lodge a protest verbally can be ignored so putting it in writing ensures that there would be some consideration and ultimately some reasonable reply to the formal request,” said Mr. Cooper.
This is not the first time the Valley Boys Group has lodged a protest over Junkanoo winnings. The group took similar action following the 2003 New Year’s Day Junkanoo parade, a complaint that has yet to be acknowledged.
Mr. Cooper said he has no doubt that all of his group’s protests will be heard this month.
The two groups have been embroiled in ongoing debate for weeks now, with a senior official close to the NJC revealing last week that the Committee intended to declare a tie between the two groups in an effort to resolve the issue once and for all.
The decision, however, was soon abandoned when NJC and Ministry of Culture officials received a second protest from the Valley Boys, as hinted by the Bahama Journal last Friday.
Hoping to ensure fairness, maintain the integrity of the judging system and bring transparency to the entire process, the Ministry Monday appointed the Independent Review Committee, to generally review the judging, scoring and penalty systems for all of the ‘A’ groups of the 2004 New Year’s Day Junkanoo Parade and recommend, based on its findings, the final results of all such groups.
The results are to be submitted by January 31.
Speaking with the Bahama Journal Tuesday, former Attorney General Paul Adderley, who was announced as one of the Committee members said there are some conditions he has requested the Ministry to agree to before he accepts the proposal to serve as part of the group.
Other Committee members, according to the release, are Dr. Hervis Bain and Ishmael Lightbourne, an accountant.
“I have recommended that all group leaders agree to the persons named to the Committee, that all group leaders agree to abide by the decision of the majority of the Committee and that terms of reference be to determine and not recommend the winners,” Mr. Adderley said.
He pointed out that unless such conditions have been agreed to, he would not serve as a Committee member.
Commenting on the decision to appoint an Independent Review Committee, Mr. Cooper stressed that the matter, however, is not strictly about the Valley Boys or the Saxons.
He said it is about right and wrong and that all that is asked is that fair play and righteousness prevail.
But the firestorm surrounding the Junkanoo parade apparently goes much deeper than declaring an official winner of the 2004 New Year’s Day parade.
While appearing as a guest on Love 97’s “Issues of the Day” radio programme Monday, 30-year Junkanoo historian and former Junkanoo judge, Anthony Morley, claimed that gambling had been allowed to creep into the core of Junkanoo and that it played a role in the outcome of this season’s parade.
“I am convinced that a lot of organized gambling goes on in Junkanoo and I have different reasons for saying so,” Mr. Morley pointed out. “Individuals in Junkanoo bet handsomely on who will win the parade, who will win best music and best costume, but it’s a very difficult thing to prove.”
Mr. Morley said he was once offered cash as a judge to give points to a certain group, an offer he said he declined.
“If you look at previous parades, some judges would leave thinking that a certain group had won. The fans on Bay Street would have seen a particular thing and at the end of the day, the result does not reflect this,” he claimed.
Mr. Morley believes that penalty judges should be properly scrutinized.
“The question is why is one judge penalizing a group eight points and another judge 40 points and yet another, 100 points,” he pointed out. “Are they trying to cover a spread? I thought penalties were supposed to be judged in unison. This just doesn’t make sense.”
Mr. Cooper, meanwhile, said he had no knowledge of inducements influencing Junkanoo scores.
He said the actions of some Committee members would indicate, however, that “there was some pressure from somewhere to change the results as quickly as possible.”
Mr. Cooper said this is a matter of major concern.
Macushla N. Pinder, The Bahama Journal
