This week’s featured development as Newsmaker of the Week are the issues arising from last Sunday’s Carnival Road March, which produced a massive amount of garbage that littered the streets of the Corporate Area along the routes of the march.
Also, a viral video of two women dancing, or in Jamaican colloquial terms, “whining” on two policemen who were monitoring the carnival proceedings, generated much discussion across social media.
Some persons are calling the actions of the female revellers “inappropriate”.
Carnival festivities culminated on Sunday, April 7 with revellers taking to the streets of the Corporate Area in a road march, gyrating their waistlines to popular tunes in their colourful costumes and other related attire.
And with carnival said to racking in billions of dollars for Jamaica, United States celebrities such as actor Michael Rainey Jr; YouTuber Kai Cenat; and American rapper and singer, Coi Leray, were among the revellers at the 2024 Carnival Road March.
But citizens, as well as business operators, of sections of the Corporate Area woke up to some streets littered with torn carnival costume pieces, cups and food boxes, among other garbage.
Criticisms came fast and furious, with blame being levelled at the carnival organisers; newly minted Kingston Mayor, Andrew Swaby; and the management of the National Solid Waste Management Authority (NSWMA).
“The new mayor of Kingston missing in action, (and) fail his first test oh! Kingston not dirty, but ‘dutty’ on a big Monday morning!” a user on X, formerly Twitter, wrote.
“Costume deh all ova dash down, KFC box desso, drinks cup…, is a disgrace on a Monday morning in Jamaica! Where is Andrew Swaby, the mayor, & NSWMA?” another user asked.
Swaby and members of his team at the Kingston and St Andrew Municipal Corporation (KSAMC) on Monday toured sections of the Corporate Area, including Hope Road, Trafalgar Road and Knutsford Boulevard, where garbage was observed strewn in streets, as well as at bus stops and in drains.
Andrew Swaby
Swaby expressed disappointment at the situation, accusing the carnival organisers of violating an agreement that he said had been reached with the KSAMC.
“The level of post-carnival garbage is simply intolerable. For those who much is given, much is expected. They had the full run of a large section of the city, and for such gracious accommodation, they should have done a much better job of cleaning up their garbage after the event,” the mayor said.
NSWMA Executive Director Audley Gordon also lambasted the organisers over the garbage pile-up, while stating that his teams were working to clear the streets by late Monday.
“It should not be that people ‘dutty up’ and then intend that somebody else will come behind them and clean up. If we organise events, we must also organise the clean-up around those events,” Gordon told reporters.
Audley Gordon
Swaby summoned all the organisers of the major event to an urgent meeting, during which the organisers committed to finding solutions to address the garbage nuisances going forward.
At least one organiser of Jamaica carnival said the growing nature of the event resulted in the garbage pile-up.
Besides those issues relative to garbage, social media users expressed various viewpoints on a viral video of two women gyrating on two male police officers who were on duty at a section of the carnival parade.
Based on the brief video, the law enforcers did not respond to the women dancing on them, but looked on.
One of the women, in particular, grabbed a policeman by his neck and looked at him as she danced suggestively on him. In another video clip, the female reveller was seen hanging on to the belt of the policeman as she gyrated on him.
Social media users began discussing the matter, which seemingly had not caught the attention of officials and the Jamaica Constabulary Force (JCF).
“This is very distasteful and rude. Why would you do this knowing the man is on the job and the world now has camera phones?” asked a woman on Instagram.
“I love carnival, but I so dislike these behaviour,” added another woman.
A man diverted from the outrage, and shared a rather interesting perspective on the matter.
“So, the squaddie (the policeman) couldn’t buss a one whine and bubble on the woman? A carnival man, nobody nah trouble you,” the male Instagrammer opined.
A woman disagreed with that viewpoint.
“You are encouraging the man to bruck out and a work him deh? Jamaicans, I tell you. Some a unuh always a support wrong side,” she said.
Commented a male Instagrammer: “If the policeman did a dance wid her (the female reveller) everybody would be complaining seh police unprofessional, and now when police a whole dem ground, you’ll saying dem a clown.”
On Facebook, a woman categorised the behaviour of one of the women, in particular, who grabbed the policeman’s neck as she danced, as being a purported act of assault.
“That’s assault if a man did that to a woman… What if he’s married?” the woman asked.
Another woman raised similar concerns, arguing that if it was a man who committed such an act (on a female cop), he would be in jail for assaulting a police officer.
“Mek a did a man a whine behind a policewoman and see if a nuh jail dat reach fast. Disturbing man; women need to have some pride in Jamaica,” she suggested.
However, some Facebook users reasoned that the matter was being taken out of context, and the women were being blasted unfairly.
“All I see is carnival revellers having fun. Gosh man! Do we have to be so uptight?” a man wrote.
Shared another: “Every carnival woman always a run go dash out wine (whine) on police, so weh the bagga chatting and uproar for? Talk ’bout another issue!”
Added a female social media user: “It’s carnival and it’s fun! The JCF can’t sanction Mass Squaddie (the policeman) anyway because he was focused on his duties. Ha ha lol!”
