KINGSTON, Jamaica — The inclusion of dancehall artiste Bounty Killer in a free concert being staged in recognition of International Women’s Day 2017, has sparked outcry from at least one civil group as well as members of the public, who said the artiste’s inclusion is in poor taste.

The concert, which is being put on by the Bureau of Gender of Affairs in the Ministry of Culture, Gender, Entertainment and Sports, in partnership with the Aids Healthcare Foundation, is being held under the theme ‘Unite to End Gender Based Violence’.

The public outcry is amid reports in September 2010 that the entertainer whose real name is Rodney Pryce was arrested after a female companion of his, turned up at a police station bleeding and reported that he had assaulted her.

The incident occurred at his Oakland Apartments residence in St Andrew.

In another incident earlier that year, he spent two weeks behind bars after being arrested by the Constant Spring police for beating up his girlfriend.

At the time, police reported that while Pryce was being processed, he called the woman and threatened her life in their presence.

The complainant, Kadeem Baker, eventually dropped the charges against Pryce.

However, according to Executive Director at WE-Change and Director of Tambourine Army, Latoya Nugent, due to the spirit of the concert and the day it is being held, it was a slap in the face of women especially in light of everything that has been happening since December 2016.

 “Almost every day (since December) we wake up to a story about a woman being murdered, rape etcetera and I think what is perhaps the most heart-breaking part of it for me is that it is a concert that is planned by the ministry with responsibility for gender affairs.

“So when the ministry with responsibility for gender affairs is engaging somebody who is a known perpetrator of gender based violence (GBV) or violence against women, then I think that’s very problematic and I am still in shock about the processes that would have been involved in organising this concert,” Nugent lamented.

She told OBSERVER ONLINE that since people have begun voicing their opinions about the poster and the line-up for the concert, suggestions are being made that some of the other artistes on the poster are also perpetrators of GBV but they have not been publicly named.

“I recall reading a post for example where someone said that she hopes that the reason they are on the poster/line- up is that they plan to acknowledge that they have been perpetrators of GBV.

“She was hoping that they would publicly apologise and was awaiting her own apology, which was suggesting that there was somebody else on the line-up she knew of personally who is a perpetrator of GBV.”

Nugent further added that she was “very disappointed with the minister because the story about Bounty Killer was all over the news several years ago,” adding that “I honestly don’t know what she (Grange) was thinking or what the ministry was thinking when they decided that it would have been a grand idea to have Bounty Killer on the show.”

She said that as the ministry with responsibility for gender more care has to be taken when the decision is made to undertake initiatives in addressing and eliminating (GBV).

“In my own opinion, I think it was an act of carelessness, negligence as well as a total disregard for the number of survivors out there and even a disregard for some of the work that the ministry would have done in the past to address and eliminate violence against women.”

“I am confused about the ministry’s intention because on the one hand a couple weeks ago they announced that they would be building /constructing two shelters for survivors of domestic violence and then a couple weeks later they are booking perpetrators of GBV for a concert that is supposed to unite brothers, and unite people around the elimination of GBV so it’s very problematic on all fronts”, she contends.

Nugent suggested that the ministry either cancels the concert or adjust the line-up to “ensure that that there are no abusers or perpetrators on the show.”

“I think if they are not willing to select one of those options I believe that civil society and people in general need to wake up and respond to the ministry’s action because it is very disrespectful and I think they need to respond to GBV in a more compassionate manner.”

The free concert, which is slated for March 8 at the Emancipation Park in New Kingston will see acts such as Marcia Griffiths, Etana, Queen Ifrica, Judy Mowatt, Taurus Riley, Toney Rebel, and Ruff Kutt among many others.

Shanica Blair