Incensed members of the Valley Boys Junkanoo group are considering launching a protest as reports emerge that National Junkanoo Committee officials have altered the scores for the New Year’s Day Junkanoo Parade.
While committee members remained tight-lipped Tuesday, sources told the Bahama Journal that the controversy surrounds penalty scores for cloth used on costumes.
“It’s unfortunate that the New Year’s Day parade has ended in controversy,” said a senior member of the Valley Boys group, who did not want to be named until the group had officially submitted a protest.
He said, “But the scores are still unofficial and according to the rules the scores remain unofficial until the groups have been given the opportunity to review the results.”
The NJC rules also state that the committee will issue copies of score sheets to groups within the A and B categories within 48 hours of the parade, but this reportedly did not happen.
The committee’s rules further stipulate that only six members of a particular group are allowed to have cloth on their costumes. The groups are subjected to a five-point penalty for each infraction of this rule.
Two days ago, Saxons Leader Percy ‘Vola’ Francis lodged his protest to the NJC after the Valley Boys edged out his group by six points on New Year’s Day.
The protest called for a review of the final scores after the Saxons won six of the major categories for the parade, but did not win the overall parade.
The NJC rules state that protests must be lodged within 72 hours of the announcement of the unofficial scores of the parade in question.
According to the Journal’s source, the review involved a re-check of the penalty scores, which revealed discrepancies between the six judges, assigned to evaluation rule infractions.
“Everyone took their penalties without protesting except the Saxons,” said the Valley Boys official. “What makes them any different from the rest of us?”
The group believes that judges on New Year’s Day decided to ignore the two extreme scores of the groups, and take an average of the remaining four scores.
One Junkanoo leader called for more control to be used in the Junkanoo parades.
“It is a sad day for the Bahamas not just for Junkanoo because this would be the first time in Junkanoo history that the results were changed,” the Junkanoo leader said. “We need governance, we need to learn how to govern ourselves.”
It was disarray in Rawson Square last Thursday morning when the Valley Boys group was declared the winner of the Walton “Sax” Taylor 2004 New Year’s Day Junkanoo Parade.
The Valley Boys won the parade after beating the Shell Saxons Superstars, even though they did not win any of their categories.
The Saxons won the best costume, best banner, best music and best choreography categories. The group also won top honours on Shirley Street.
Yvette Rolle -Major, The Bahama Journal
