The National Junkanoo Committee announced late yesterday that a second protest had been received from one of the Junkanoo groups. A short press release said that “in the interest of fairness, transparency and due process, this protest will have to be reviewed” and that a further statement on the results “will be issued at the earliest opportunity”.
It was announced on Tuesday that the Valley Boys’ unofficial victory had been overturned, giving the prize to the Saxons. However, the committee backtracked ont he statement, retreating into closed meetings and making no statement to Junkanoo grups. A further statement was to be issued yesterday but did not materialise.
This is the first time in history that the judges have changed their minds about the rsults, and with Junkanoo fans confused and left in the dark, the National Junkanoo Committee now faces bitter public criticism over its handling of the matter.
On New Year’s Day, the Valley Boys were announced to be the winners with 3406, with the Saxons coming second with 3400. The Saxons, who had won almost all the individual categories, immediately disputed the result saying that they were the clear winners. The committee then reviewed the allocation of penalty points and decided that the Saxons had been over-penalised by 15 points for wearing cloth. These points were returned, putting the Saxons in first place with 3415.
The confusion over the results has drawn anger from Junkanoo fands about the way Junkanoo scores are calculated and released. Some say the fiasco shows that releasing “unofficial” results so soon does more harm than good. They suggest it would be wiser to leave the announcements until after the scores have been thoroughly checked.
Source: Robert Bain, The Tribune
