The "boycott" of this year's Junkanoo Carnival Road Fever event by band owners will only "create confusion" among revelers and could even sway them against participating in the parade, according to Free National Movement deputy leader Peter Turnquest.
He said the carnival bands' decision to instead host their own road march, "goes right back to the fact that the planning (for Junkanoo Carnival) seems to have been flawed". However, Turnquest added he doesn't necessarily believe it's a bad idea for the march to be wholly organized by the private sector.
"If, in fact, the bands decided that they are going to 'boycott', for lack of a better word, the so called official road march and go and do a private function, obviously that is going to create confusion in the minds of the revelers and some will be inclined not to participate," he said.
"I think at the end of the day, the concert part of this program will probably go off fairly well but the way the whole Junkanoo Carnival concept has been promoted, the road march is an integral part of it - and so to the extent that the band owners are not comfortable or satisfied, that has got to have some effect.
"I don't know that the whole package will receive the same kind of enthusiastic support that has been promoted and expected."
Bahamas Carnival Band Owners Association President Dario Tirelli told The Nassau Guardian on Thursday, the association decided to take the "drastic measure" for a number of reasons, including the fact that they were not given seed money this year.
Tirelli said band owners want to have their own parade on the same day, and the association has already made a request to Commissioner of Police Ellison Greenslade.
Turnquest said although there probably will be a level of participation for any road march event, he attributes the "chaos" happening now to poor planning and communication.
"In terms of the planning, they started just in January," he said, "Previous to that, even the [festival] commission said they had no instructions as to even start planning for this thing - and so, late again. We come up with some plan and obviously there has not been adequate communication between all the moving parts and so you end up with chaos."
Turnquest questioned what exactly the government promised the carnival bands in terms of seed money and whether the bands have been "let down once again by this government, who seems to not be able to help themselves, but to overpromise, and fail miserably".
In the wake of Tirelli's comments, Bahamas National Festival Commission (BNFC) Chairman Paul Major said that since the bands have decided to "privatize" the parade, the commission supports that and there will not be another parade to boycott.
In a statement on Thursday night, the BNFC said, "It has always been the vision of the BNFC to move towards a privatization model for some aspects of Bahamas Junkanoo Carnival, including Road Fever."
Turnquest said he agrees.
"You know, millions of dollars later, I'm glad - happy - to hear the chairman finally understands that this whole entire affair from the get-go ought to have been left in the hands of the private sector," he said.
"The fact that the government has invested so much money that we can ill afford is in my mind - an indictment on the government in the first instance because they are the responsible parties - but upon the whole organization."
Turnquest said private entitles have already proven they are capable of putting on "mega concerts" and parades with "some level of success" and he's glad the BNFC is beginning to understand that "these kind of activities are best handled, best managed, in the hands of those who have a direct and vested interests in ensuring their success".
Major had confirmed earlier this month, this year's entire carnival budget will be around $7 million. This, after government spent $11.3 million on the inaugural festival, going over its initial budget of $9 million.
This past Sunday, Prime Minister Perry Christie dismissed the criticism over capital spending on Bahamas Junkanoo Carnival and insisted that the festival will have a "significant impact" on the economy. He also said that carnival has created new business opportunities for the carnival bands.
Carnival 2016 is set to take place on Grand Bahama on April 14-16 and on New Providence on May 5-7.
Dana Smith
Guardian Staff Reporter
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