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Last Updated: Aug 15, 2017 - 2:32:48 PM |
 For several years now, but to no avail, I have been requesting that the former government have a forensic audit done on the failed Bahamas Junkanoo Carnival (aka somebody else’s culture), and now I am calling on the Minnis administration to have a forensic report done on behalf of the Bahamian people and the cultural community.
I am so ashamed and disappointed in the former Prime Minister Perry Christie, the former Minister of Tourism Obie Wilchcombe and the former Minister Of Youth Sports and Culture Danny Johnson. Johnson who these days is trying to reinvent and distance himmself from the gang of garbage men he hung out with for the past five years.
These three men are on record promising that thier ‘Junkanoo Carnival’ would be a Bahamian event, yet they sold us out for a foreign carnival festival, they allowed their families friends, and lovers to use this licentious festival to misappropriate over twenty million dollars of the people’s money. Monies that could have been used to truly further the arts and culture industry in The Bahamas and give our visitors a further reason to come over and partake in an authentic Bahamian experience.
I am calling for accountability and retribution across the board. Those who were a part of the Bahamas National Festival Commission used our Bahamian artisans and paid them scraps. Where has the bulk of our money gone? No one knows. The Bahamian musicians and entertainers at the time should have banded together and said no to those miscreants who chose to divide and conquer all of them, the entertainers took the crumbs offered and sat small, while the foreign entertainers went back to their countries with their pockets loaded. We need to man and woman up, grow backbones and stop selling your souls for a little attention; “United We Stand, Divided We Fall”.
The Bahamian people saw through the former government’s ruse of a carnival and voted them into oblivion. PM Minnis, please take heed and do not make the same mistake. I call on the current government to bring those who have betrayed our trust to justice, get back the people’s monies, and where needed, have the guilty culprits jailed, over twenty plus million dollars taken out of the treasury and nothing to show for it, three failed carnivals back to back to back. The Bahamas Junkanoo Carnival should not be allowed to continue and should not receive another dime from the people’s coffers until we find out where our monies have gone, every cent that was invested into this foreign festival needs to be accounted for.
A team needs to be assembled to audit and investigate what happened to the funds allocated to this Bahamas Junkanoo Carnival Ponzi scheme, The Bahamian public is watching, and the government that stands up for the people, will be rewarded by the people.
Let the shoe shine man shine shoes, let the accountant count, and let those in the business of music and entertainment, produce and direct entertainment, not again should thieves be allowed to run free in the temple, shame those who do wrong and show no remorse for their wrong doings, there is no excuse for breaking the trust of those they swore to serve.
Kirkland H. Bodie
Musician/Producer/Activist
© Copyright 2017 by thebahamasweekly.com
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