Duke: Why no parade of the bands in Roxborough?

PROGRESSIVE Democratic Patriots (PDP) political leader Watson Duke is calling on the Tobago House of Assembly (THA) to say why there was no parade of the bands in Roxborough on Carnival Monday – March 3.

He said he intends to raise the issue at the next plenary sitting of the assembly on March 27.

In a video sent to the media via WhatsApp on March 5, Duke said, “I have asked questions in the corridors of so-called power and there have been no answer forthcoming. So I have put this out here live to let the people of Roxborough know that an old age tradition has been stopped. Why it is stopped? God alone knows.

“But I tell you this – this coming THA sitting, I will raise the question officially in the House, that is for March month. I am telling you this again, we demand answers. Tobago demands answers.”

He said villages of Roxborough and Delaford have been bringing out mas bands for Carnival since World War 1. That war took place between 1914-1918.

“That’s how long. But this year, the only way they could find to celebrate carnival is to stop the carnival in Roxborough.

“So there was no parade of bands in Roxborough. Some other kiddies thing they had (on March 1). Monday in Roxborough is a big parade of bands. It is a day when all of Tobago converge at Roxborough. It was stopped this year.”

Duke also complained about what he considered to be the poor turnout of masqueraders in Scarborough on Carnival Tuesday – March 4.

“Again yesterday (March 4), a tourist boat came in, hundreds of tourists looking for mas but what they saw in Scarborough was eight people in a band, 15 people in a band parading up and down the place. That is laughable, it is ludicrous, it is senseless. How do we serenade our tourists by showing them a little dot of culture?”

The Belle Garden East/Roxborough/Delaford assemblyman said if the island has two carnivals, including its flagship festival in October, “one should not suffer because of the other.”

He argued both should co-exist showing different aspects of Carnival.

Duke said if the THA wants bandleaders to make costumes that are cheap, the assembly must subsidise the cost heavily.

“But you see that $900 you give to bandleaders to subsidise their costumes, it is disrespectful. You see that $1,200 allyuh give to bandleaders to subsidise costumes, it is disrespectful. And when I say $900, it is the total - $900 and $1,200 - they gave to bandleaders, not $900 by the amount of costumes inno. So you could make one to 1,000 (costumes), is $900 yuh getting flat or $1,200.”

Duke said as PDP leader, he longs for the day when Tobago “would have all these little caps being taken off and they (masmen) be given the opportunity to pursue a dream in accordance with their determination and their self-worth.”

He said entrepreneurs must be allowed to excel “beyond their wildest imagination.”