Trouble is brewing in the lead-up to the much-anticipated Boxing Day and New Year’s Day Junkanoo parades, following a controversial announcement by the Ministry of Youth, Sports, and Culture.
Last evening, the Ministry released a statement saying that the Way Forward Valley Boys will be allowed to perform as a Category A group in both parades, despite a previous decision by the Junkanoo Corporation of New Providence (JCNP) to restrict them to the F category as a "Fun Group."
This move has sparked outrage and accusations of political interference from the JCNP, which initially ruled that only the World Famous Valley Boys could perform in the A category after a split earlier this year.
The division within the Valley Boys group created two separate entities: the World Famous Valley Boys and the Way Forward Valley Boys. The JCNP had decided that the Way Forward group would not be eligible for Category A due to the split.
In response to the government’s decision, the JCNP has called an emergency meeting for Junkanoo group leaders this evening at 6:00 p.m. to discuss the controversy.
This drama has thrown the future of this year's parades into uncertainty, with several groups expressing concern over what they see as a potential political maneuver to sway the Junkanoo competitions.
As the Junkanoo community awaits tonight’s meeting, the outcome remains unclear.
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