Judge rules against NCBA

A HIGH Court judge has given his decision in the battle of the mas bands. Justice Vasheist Kokaram has ruled that the decision by the Minister of Community Development, Culture and the Arts Dr Nyan Gadsby-Dolly to appoint the TT Carnival Bands Association (TTCBA) to the National Carnival Commission (NCC) board of directors was “rational, legal, fair and proportionate.”

He said the National Carinival Bands Association (NCBA), led by David Lopez, had no inherent right to sit on the NCC board. Kokaram said much like the masquerade itself, the dispute brought by the NCBA “was a metaphor for social change.”

In a 68-page decision, in which he offered conciliatory guidelines on the way forward, Kokaram dismissed the NCBA’s challenge of the decision of the minister to remove its representative from the board.

The minister had appointed the TTCBA – led by Rosalind Gabriel – to the board after an audit found it represented the majority of mas bands.

Kokaram said there may have been different methods by which a representative to the NCC board could have been chosen, but the use of the mas audit was not a flawed decision.

In October last year, Justice Joan Charles had urged the minister to hold a band membership audit to determine which body should sit on the board. This was done and the TTCBA appointed. “The NCBA had no vested right or interest to be appointed as the nominee on the NCC board,” Kokaram said.

“In any event, the nominee pursues the work of the NCC and not that of the organisation. The fact that an organisation is not a nominee on the board of the NCC does not, by itself, mean they no longer can be involved in the organisation and development of mas,” the judge added.

He said it was unfortunate that the mas had been mired in controversy, as it was “an iconic and visceral cultural expression for our people.”

“However, the silver lining is the certainty with which the minister should carry out her job of appointing a section 5(1)(b) (of the NCC Act) nominee,” he said, adding that after the Carnival was over, there will remain on the shoulders of the minister and anyone occupying that seat on the NCC “a heavy responsibility” to collaborate with fellow board members.

“The mas after all is and represents us all, it is all inclusive, formless and seamless, a moving canvas which defies strictures, rebels against limitations,” he added, including a quote from veteran masman Peter Minshall in his judgment.

The NCBA, in its judicial review claim, described itself as the pioneers and preservers of mas in its traditional form, while the TTCBA was perceived, by the NCBA, as the representative of “bead and feather” fancy mas and purveyors and destroyers of the traditional mas.

It also complained of being relegated to the pavement while the TTCBA was allowed to reign on the streets.

Kokaram said the larger issues raised in the dispute between the two mas groups’ representatives on the evolution of the mas and its voice in Carnival remained unanswered but were policy and legislative issues which led to him offering the confidential and non-binding guide to resolve some of them for the establishment of harmonious relationships between stakeholders and possibly pre-empt any further conflict.

Since the NCBA lost its lawsuit, it was ordered to pay 50 per cent of the minister’s legal costs for defending the claim and 25 per cent of the TTCBA’s. The judge said he did not want the cost order to hamper the relationship between the parties.

The NCBA was represented by attorneys Anthony Vieira, Rikki Harnanan, Justin Phelps and Elena Da Silva-Ottley. The minister was represented by Karlene Seenath and Amrita Ramsook.

The TTCBA, which entered the dispute as an interested party, was represented by attorneys Shiv Sharma, Kiel Taklalsingh and Jamie Maharaj.