Pic Source: http://www.panonthenet.com
ST JOHN’S, Antigua – In the ongoing Panorama saga, LIME Hell’s Gate Steel Orchestra has put the Carnival Development Committee (CDC) and Antigua & Barbuda Pan Association (ABPA) on notice of its intention to boycott the competition and file suit if the decision declaring a joint winner is not rescinded.
In letters to both the CDC and ABPA last week, Hell’s Gate warned that its participation in the 2012 contest hinges on the withdrawal of the March announcement that Hell’s Gate and the Hadeed Group of Companies AMP Halycon Steel Orchestra were to share the title.
In March, Minister of Culture Eleston “Namba” Adams had made the declaration, months after the judging system had resulted in Hell’s Gate being declared the winner last Carnival.
Adams said an “anomaly” in the judging method resulted in the ranking system being used to arrive at a winner, while the rules circulated to the Steelband Association required the competition to be judged using the aggregate sum of all scores.
According to Stafford Joseph, subsequent to Adams’ announcement, he requested a copy of the National Panorama Rules & Regulations that dictate the terms of competition from Pan Association president, Patrick “Stone” Johnson.
Joseph alleges that the documents he received had been falsified, saying, “In our opinion (it was) concocted to fit the decision that was made to decide that the bands were actually tied.”
He added, “And quite clearly whatever was done illegally, in our opinion, and we still hold that opinion.”
In his May 22 letter, Joseph noted that the decision to contest the decision was based on the grounds that “there exists no moral or legal basis for making that decision.”
Attempts to reach both Patrick Johnson and Minister Adams have been unsuccessful.
(More in today’s Daily OBSERVER)
First of all panorama always base on a points system… Intro have certain points, rythm, and so on… then how can any band lost a panorama when they have more points than the other band that wins.?? If Halcyan have more points than Hellsgate how can hellsgate win when they’re not ahead on points..???? questian need some answer… dat ah D dyam blastid prablem dat shudda bin str8-10 out lang tyme nat just now….
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It is my understanding that the rules governing the competition state that for the points system to be used you need more than 3 judges because the bias of one judge can screw over a band. Since 2006 the CDC could only afford to accommodate 3 judges and since then the judging criteria was changed to a ranking system and the bands and the public were not informed. No one wants to accept fault which is why this situation has been rearing it’s ugly head. An investigation was suppose to have been carried out, but that has been swept underneath the carpet by the hierarchy of the pan association, and now they come up with some crap at the last minute to cover their asses.
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Utter crap someone needs to be held accountable for this mess and that person is Mr. Patrick Johnson. Ever since he took the helm of the pan association it has been nothing but pure shit. He needs to step down because it seems that he doesn’t want the public to know the results of the ‘investigation’. I mean come on altering documents to save yourself from shame is a bad move, and what was done in the dark will come to light.
As a lover of music this situation needs to be addressed by the members of the pan association along with CDC chairman so that we can move on from this embarrassing spectacle and get back to enjoying some good music.
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This just goes to show that people will go to great lengths to steal a victory. Documents being tampered with, this just shows that the pan association president is incompetent and corrupt and should resign from his post. If there was an investigation why have the pan association and CDC not released the results of the investigation so we the public can know what is going on? If the results of the competition are legally binding, why threaten the CDC about a lawsuit once you enter the competition you should be aware of the rules because the apply to everyone.
Namba himself is just as bad,after carnival finish they waste time and wait til 5 months close to carnival, and give us the public some mediocre crap. This is why carnivals in other islands are surpassing ours by leaps and bounds and killing our culture. I say that Namba and the president of the pan association Mr.Johnson should tender the resignations from there respective post cause it is obvious that they are not fit for such positions.
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I like this. If there is no panorama then there will be no dispute that last all year.
Good thing.
The revellers can just play DCs and the naked ladies given more room to dance.
Great!
Money will be saved.
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