Despite unofficial tallies and wide public opinion that the Shell Saxon Superstars were the “obvious victors” of the Sammy Thompson Boxing Day Junkanoo parade, protest rumours have once again surfaced causing hundreds of Junkanooers to “grow weary” of the Bahamas dynamic cultural spectacle.
Controversy has also erupted in Grand Bahama with losing groups at the parade in Freeport complaining about the victory awarded the Superstar Rockers group.
“Soon the Ministry is going to have to look into either stripping away the competition from these parades or decide to do away with it, because there is only so much we can take. I say give praise where praise is due, and if that cannot be done, then what’s the point of having the competition?” asked demetrius Grant a longtime member of the Saxons.
According to Saxons leader Percy “Vola” Francis his group received a staggering 200 point penalty for what can be considered “trivial violations”.
The unofficial results named the Saxons as the Category A winners with 2,176 points. In second pplace was One Family with 2,166 points; third place was Prodigal Sons with 1,977; fourth place was Valley Boys with 1.939; fifth place was Roots with 1,798 and sixth place went to Music Makers with 1,330.
According to media reports several other A category Junkanoo groups, particularly unofficial second place winners One Family and fifth place finishers The Roots, are claiming that “there is no justification for the Saxons’ victory, as there are still categories left to be judged”.
However, unofficial fourth place finishers, The Valley Boys Junkanoo group say they “have no comment concerning the protest”.
Source: Danielle Stubbs, The Tribune
