By LEANDRA ROLLE

Tribune Chief Reporter

lrolle@tribunemedia.net

YOUTH, Sports and Culture Minister Mario Bowleg said the upcoming Junkanoo parades will not be affected by the proposed National Junkanoo Authority Bill, which he expects to table in Parliament next month.

Mr Bowleg told reporters yesterday: “It will not impact the upcoming parades, because it takes time to put an authority together. You just don’t go and pick people off your fingers.”

“The authority has to come together. They have to properly plan to be able to organize itself, you have to find a physical location for them to be in, set up themselves and start preparing themselves for upcoming parades.”

His comments came amid the Junkanoo Corporation of New Providence’s (JCNP) ongoing standoff with the government over the bill. The JCNP views the proposed authority as an attempt to centralise control and roll back the organisation’s self-governance. It has suspended all parading activities in protests.

Mr Bowleg said a meeting with JCNP representatives, originally scheduled for yesterday, was postponed to next week due to scheduling conflicts.

He added that the government intends to consider JCNP’s recommendations before finalising the legislation.

“As you know, we’ve already adjusted the bill since we last made it public based on the recommendation from the public consultation we would have had and so as soon as we get there input we will then make the final bill draft, I should say to go to the public before I take it to the house in October,” he said.

He said Family Island groups mostly support the draft legislation and have already made recommendations.

“There were many adjustments and recommendations made, not only with the persons in the room, but also by the associations and corporations from the Junkanoo and the family islands which they support 99 per cent of it. I think it was something as relations to pension that they wanted persons to be involved with and I think clarity on job descriptions as it relates to the corporations and their involvement in the management of the parades,” he said.

Under the proposed bill, a new National Junkanoo Authority would be established to regulate all Junkanoo parades held under the aegis of the government, administer prize money and seed funding, issue licenses and approvals, and set national rules.