Citing the Jamaican Dancehall artist’s criminal history, even though his 2011 murder conviction was overturned, the United Artist Bahamas Union intends to “push back by any means necessary under the law” against the permission of the Vybz Kartel concert scheduled to take place at Fort Charlotte.
Link Scavella-Ferguson, the secretary general, told reporters that the union opposes the Vybz Kartel performance. He stated that laws require that the UABU be contacted before any foreign musician may play in The Bahamas. Foreign performers are increasingly entering the nation to perform, he continued, “bypassing” the UABU and other “relevant government authorities.”
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According to him, the Bahamas Musicians and Entertainers Organization (BMEU), the UABU’s legacy organization, “is behind that,” even though it is the “only legal union at this time” that has the authority to authorize international performers to perform in the nation. According to Mr. Scavella-Ferguson, the BMEU’s lack of certification gave the UABU the authority to allow or prohibit the admission of international musicians into the country. About two weeks ago, he added, during its quarterly meeting with Labor Minister Pia Glover-Rolle, she “advised” that the BMEU was not certified, meaning that the “union should not be approving any foreign artists coming into the country.”
Mr. Scavella-Ferguson noted, “In our last meeting with Minister Pia Glover, one of the things that we had confirmed was whether or not the other union, the BMEU, whether or not their elections were certified.”
He added, “And the minister advised us, no, they were not certified because of issues that we raised regarding the elections where they have violated their own constitution and the law. And so we brought that to the attention of the minister. And as a result of that and some other things, they have not certified those elections. Which means that the union should not be approving any foreign artists coming into the country.”
Representing the union Mr. Scavella-Ferguson stated their concern about being excluded from the decision-making in approving artistes performing in the Bahamas, “a quarterly meeting with the minister of labor. That’s when all of the unions would raise their issues. And so we raised our issue in reference to what was going on with the influx of the foreign artists coming in. And we asked who was approving all these artists. And so we made it known to them that the other union if their elections have not been certified, they should not be conducting business. So, we have not been consulted with these artists that are coming in and we have not approved any.”
The UABU has already expressed disapproval of promoters that advertise acts and international musicians before obtaining clearance, according to Mr. Scavella Ferguson, who also told Tribune Business that the organization had an “issue” with the “influx of the foreign artists coming in.”
“We have an issue, a serious issue with promoters advertising their acts or their foreign artists before they have received approval,” Mr. Scavella-Ferguson explained. Adding, “If you have no approval, you should not be advertising.
Mr. Scavella-Ferguson continued, “It has not been approved by immigration and has not been approved by us, which is the only legal union of musicians and entertainers at this time. And so, they just put their ad out there and start advertising. And that has agitated us. And so, we will not support them for that reason and the other reason with regards to the crime elements in our country.”
The UABU is willing to demonstrate, and because it is a member of the Trade Union Congress, which has ruled that if one union goes on strike, all of them go on strike, it begs the issue of what effects a demonstration may have. Mr. Scavella Ferguson informed this publication that he has “put Alfred Sears, the Minister of Immigration, on notice of what we believe is going on.”
The secretary- general stated, “We sent him a note to put him on notice that we will not support that act.” He added, “we send that to him and the Department of Labor. We will not be supporting those types of acts, including another act called Bounty Killer. We are not supporting any artist with the name Bounty Killer. Not in this country. The crime level of last year has been too high. And so, we’re not supporting anything to do with Killer.”
Mr. Scavella-Ferguson stated, “We are so agitated that we intend to push back by any means necessary under the law, which means we will protest when and wherever. We will protest at the Prime Minister’s office, the House of Assembly and all the Immigration departments, the Department of Labor. If they approve this, they will be seeing us every day.”
“Note that ALIV and Bahamasair (our national flag carrier) are two major sponsors of the Vybz Kartel & Friends concert,” he emphasized.
Mr. Scavella Ferguson disclosed that the UABU has established a “compliance intelligence unit” with an entertainment compliance team that will “create a structured framework that guarantees the entertainment industry complies with laws, contracts, and moral principles while fostering equitable opportunities and protecting stakeholders.”
“We launched it today,” Mr. Scavella-Ferguson remarked. He further noted, “we just finished working on it, and we will put it out on our Facebook page and our WhatsApp page, and then we’re going to publicize it. So that’s our own compliance intelligence unit. Whenever these foreign artists go to the concert to have the events, we’re going to be there to make sure that all of the things that we require, they have the insurance. Because if the stage break down with Bahamian or American artists or foreign artists, we want to make sure all those things are covered before we give an approval. And so when we go there, if they don’t have sufficient security, we’re going to come down on them and we’re encouraging the Department of Immigration to join us because they shouldn’t be allowing the people to come into the country to perform and then no immigration go to see how many people are on the stage. You see, they apply for one artist to come in, Burna Boy, and then the immigration approved that, and then 30 people came in. And that’s not the only bad part about it, is we don’t know what they brought into their instrument cases.”
Speaking for the UABU, Mr. Scavella-Ferguson said that the concert is not acceptable because of the artist’s criminal history, adding that there are “enough criminal activities going on in this country” and that Vybz Kartel’s influence is unnecessary. According to him, the UABU has “always suspected” that certain “Jamaican reggae artists coming in are bringing in stuff in these containers.”
“One of the things that we are now agitated by, in addition to the influx of foreign artists coming into the country, is bypassing the legal organizations such as UABU and also bypassing the relevant government authorities in many cases,” Mr. Scavella-Ferguson noted. “The biggest issue we have right now is this Vybz Kartel artist that they plan to bring in, in March. And so we are launching a pushback on that. We are not going to support that. We are going to demonstrate to the relevant government agencies, which is the Ministry of Labor and Immigration. We are not supporting any artists that have a criminal background.”
Mr. Scavella-Ferguson continued, “And I encourage you to go and do a background check on this Vybz Kartel, as we have done. And so after learning about his background, he has just been released from prison for murder. We have enough criminal activities going on in this country now. We do not need another performing artist coming here to influence our young people.”
“Plus, we don’t know what they bring in when they come into this country. We’ve always suspected that a number of these Jamaican reggae artists coming in are bringing in stuff in these containers and we always suspected that that is one of the ways that guns and things are coming into the country. We’ve always suspected that. And we put the government on notice on that. We believe that the relevant government authorities are slack in their duties.”
In addition to the artist’s history, the UABU is worried about Bahamian musicians not being given the chance to perform on concert stages.
“And for us in 2025, we are making no mess,” Mr. Scavella-Ferguson stated. “We ain’t taking no mess because the policies that are set for as it relates to foreign artists coming in are set for us to be the watchdog to ensure that Bahamian musicians and entertainers benefit from any foreign artists that are coming in to engage in gainful employment. And so that is our job and we are doing our job. But we are agitated by the fact that the Ministry of Immigration and Labor, they are slack, and customs are stuck concerning their jobs. If they ask us to comply with the law, we expect that the government itself will comply with its own laws.”
“We saw the poster and none have been promoted. They just said Vybz Kartel and Friends. So, we do not know who those friends are. But he has been in jail for the last 13 years, so he can’t have many Bahamian artist friends unless some of them were in there with him.”
