By LEANDRA ROLLE

Tribune Staff Reporter

lrolle@tribunemedia.net

JUNKANOO Corporation of New Providence chairman Dion Miller said the organisation is still waiting to learn why the Prodigal Sons dropped out of the Boxing Day parade, adding that Music Makers was disqualified from the competition because it did not have enough participants to meet eligibility requirements.

Category A Junkanoo groups must have 201 participants and a certain number of dancers for the step-down or off-the-shoulder category.

Music Makers did not meet these requirements, causing them to suffer two eligibility infractions.

Meanwhile, after Youth, Sports, and Culture Minister Mario Bowleg told The Tribune the Prodigal Sons must give a “decent reason” for dropping out of Tuesday’s parade or return the government’s seed money, Mr Miller said he could not explain the group’s decision.

 Category A groups, such as the Prodigal Sons, received $30,000 from the $928,500 seed money the government provided this year.

 “We’re still in the process of getting the New Year’s Day parade out, so I assume that in the coming days, the group will formally inform us as to what happened and what transpired in regards to the Boxing Day parade,” Mr Miller said.

“But we’re now preparing for the New Year’s Day parade, which starts early New Year’s morning around two or 1am. We think it’s going to be an exciting parade. The One Family Junkanoo organisation is the defending champion from last year’s New Year’s Day parade. We knew they didn’t perform well with this Boxing Day, so we know they have to come with a lot of blood in their eyes to redeem themselves.”

 The Shell Saxons Superstars unofficially won the Boxing Day Parade, dominating the major categories with its Ancient Rulers theme.

 Mr Miller noted that groups are no longer allowed to contest after results are announced.

 “In regards to protesters,” he said, “the system to protest has changed and so you won’t see any protests coming in and being launched after the parade results would’ve been read, so we’ve moved to a live adjudication system where groups should they be penalised for any particular matter, they have the ability to go and dispute that right there live in person on the parade to have it resolved which would allow us to get to quicker official results than in the year’s past.”

 “The only thing that is happening now is that the scores and whatnot would’ve been sent to our second independent auditor who is conducting his work today, and once that would’ve been completed sometime today or tomorrow evening, the Boxing Day parade would’ve been made official.”

 He said no one protested penalties on the night of the parade.

 “There weren’t many penalties at the Boxing Day parade. I think One Family got a penalty, and I think another group may have gotten another penalty, but there aren’t many penalties in that regard to be contested,” he said.