National

JCNP Threatens To Have Its Own Junkanoo Parades

NASSAU, BAHAMAS – It’s just over two months out from the major Junkanoo parades, and the JCNP is threatening to have its own parade if the government doesn’t reverse the decision to allow a new body to take over parade management.

Published

5 months ago

October 9, 2025

Berthony McDermott

The Junkanaoo Corporation of New Providence predicts the decision to pull management of this year’s parades from them will cost it nearly $1M in losses.

In an October 6th letter to Youth Sports and Culture Minister Mario Bowleg, the JCNP called it deeply unfair after decades of partnership.

The letter from Chairman Dion Miller said the ministry’s action jeopardises major sponsorship deals with ALIV and Commonwealth Brewery and leaves the organisation no choice but to plan its own private parades.

The letter estimates losses of about $747,000, including $355,000 in unpaid sponsorship fees from Aliv, $335,000 from Commonwealth Brewery, and $57,000 it recently spent upgrading its scoring system.

It also says the change nullifies its contracts and undermines years of collaboration.

The JCNP gave the government seven days to reverse its course; failure will end in the JCNP moving ahead with its own parades.

This could end in a showdown that could see four junkanaoo parades instead of two this season.

According to Miller, corporate sponsors have warned that private parades are the only way to escape breaching existing contracts if the minister doesn’t change its course.

He says the government gives no funding to the JCNP itself, only to member groups, leaving the corporation financially strained.

The JCNP is also accusing the ministry of abandoning an agreement in principle reached during a September 9 meeting at the office of the Prime Minister, with Bowleg, the attorney general, and former Court of Appeal president Dame Anita Allen. He says both sides agreed the JCNP would continue managing and administering the parades.

It reads, “remarkably, between 9 September 2025 and 1 October 2025, the ministry has somehow conducted an about-face from its previous mutually agreed position with the JCNP, without any consultation with or notice to us.”

It continues, “it’s the JCNP’s position that the poll conducted was manifestly unfair and unrepresentative of the will and intent of all Junkanoo groups on the island of New Providence.

Still, Miller says he’s hopeful the ministry would not oppose its efforts.

The Ministry of Youth Sports and Culture has not responded to the claims, and calls to Minister Mario Bowleg were not returned up to news time.