Buju to be given all clear to enter Trinidad

Mark Myrie “Buju Banton” in December 2018 after his release from prison

Reggae dancehall icon Mark Myrie better known as Buju Banton ran into a legal road block in preparation for his upcoming concert. Buju’s “I am legend” concert set for Trinidad on Easter Sunday was in Jeopardy due to him being unable to enter the country because of his criminal conviction.

On 22 February 2011, Banton was found guilty of conspiracy to possess with intent to distribute five or more kilograms of cocaine, possession of a firearm in furtherance of a drug-trafficking offense and using communication wires to facilitate a drug-trafficking offense.

He was released from prison on December 7, 2018.

Speaking at a post-cabinet meeting on last week, Trinidad Minister for National Security, Stuart Young addressed the matter.

“Buju Banton falls foul of our immigration laws in T&T,” Minister Young said.

Minister Young also said to the media present that he had spoken to the organizers and asked that an application be made to the ministry of National Security adding that he would respond favourably.

“I am willing to give the application for the concert to go on,”.

The “I am Legend” concert takes place on Queen’s park Savannah on 21st April 2019.

Copyright 2012 Dominica News Online, DURAVISION INC. All Rights Reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or distributed.

Disclaimer: The comments posted do not necessarily reflect the views of DominicaNewsOnline.com and its parent company or any individual staff member. All comments are posted subject to approval by DominicaNewsOnline.com. We never censor based on political or ideological points of view, but we do try to maintain a sensible balance between free speech and responsible moderating.

We will delete comments that:

  • contain any material which violates or infringes the rights of any person, are defamatory or harassing or are purely ad hominem attacks
  • a reasonable person would consider abusive or profane
  • contain material which violates or encourages others to violate any applicable law
  • promote prejudice or prejudicial hatred of any kind
  • refer to people arrested or charged with a crime as though they had been found guilty
  • contain links to "chain letters", pornographic or obscene movies or graphic images
  • are off-topic and/or excessively long

See our full comment/user policy/agreement.

17 Comments

  1. Anita Dunnigan
    April 16, 2019

    The concert date for Buju to perform in TT has been set for a while. Why now is someone talking about there is a problem of him entering the country. Should that have not been settled before the date was set and before tickets went on sale?
    If he was guilty as charged, he has paid his debt and been released. He also educated himself while he was locked up. I say let him do these concerts and make a lot of people happy. I believe he is redeemed and will be a value to society.

    • Karl Orndem
      April 18, 2019

      AMEN!!! We too like to act like we need to pass our our judgement and sentence on people after they have served their time and dealt with their punishment. Evil people we are, just like to hold each other back for no good reason. Most of it is rubbish and nonsense made up out of fear and misunderstandings. Keep in mind that Buju doesnt need Trinidad, nor Dominica to remain successful. Even at his lowest point he was still high up. Jah bless. I am not your biggest fan, nor do i really even like your recent music Buju but i understand that you are human and people make mistakes. we pay for them and we move on. But the problem is that these people do not want to move on. they want to stay throwing stone, but one day they themselves or a family member will have stones in their direction too.

  2. Karl Orndem
    April 16, 2019

    why wouldn’t he? He is a CARICOM national requested and invited to Trinidad to perform a desired service for which they propose to compensate him for. REGARDLESS OF WHETHER OR NOT HE HAS PAST CONVICTIONS. a man’s past doesnt determine his “destiny” or his future. Many here in dominica would say they dont want no convict on our stage here performing for us dominicans. Ive actually heard grown people say this kind of rubbish. Same kind of people who hated and feared rasta and marijuana but still played bob marley every sunday. We turned away Tommy Lee because he would have possessed the youth with demons, but the show was marketed to and staged at a time for adults who would have pay to see him, non the less the Christians and leaders were fearful. We praise many who we deem as good people but know nothing about what they do behind curtains, then again sometimes we know but we close our eyes to the injustices. I believe after you serve your time you shouldn’t continue to be…

    • Karl Orndem
      April 17, 2019

      persecuted. Every saint has a past, every sinner has a future. Here in Dominic we have had MANY “ex cons” appear on our stages, some more than once. Wyclef, Busy Signal, Jah Cure, bounty Killer Sizzla, Mavado to name a few as of late. all world renown artists at the top of their games and genres. I personally say let buju tour the caribbean without issues. Dont judge the man based on his past.

  3. boom
    April 16, 2019

    The thing that vex me, is that Trinidad has the most criminals in the Caribbean, might even be in the world, everyday people with multiple conviction go to and through Trinidad, so what the problem with buju? struppsssssssss.

  4. ti nom
    April 16, 2019

    lets be real, if buju was a regular man he wouldnt be able to go trini. still give respect where its due, but all for 1, 1 for all. now they set a dangerous precedent. buju ou ja fe’y. bon chans pou boug yo adan prizon. free up de system

  5. marcus
    April 15, 2019

    Buju was entrap with the help of a columbian informant who followed him around over a year so before we judge know some of the facts,and as a Caribbean national and a citizen of a Caricom state he has the right to travel through out the region he was convicted in America now he is home in the Caribbean.

  6. out of south city
    April 15, 2019

    For most of these bi-racial people, when it comes to race they always lean toward the race that’s further form Black. Just like Naomi Osaka. They identify her as a Japanese and leave her Haitian father out of the picture. If they are ashamed to identify with the blackness in them then they are allowing the press and the sports organisations determine who they are. It’s all about pleasing the minority race and blacks are not the minority by the way. It’s the other way around and money talks. The old folks used to say, “money makes the jumbee dance.”

  7. April 15, 2019

    Hello and good afternoon my people. Well T&T is trying to follow America who is deporting people even for minor traffic infractions like unlicense motor vehicle operator or no insurance. They are legalizing marihuana in America but they are still deporting people who were arrested for possession and sale of marihuana . Also Buju don’t understand how the telephone works in that one never know if your phone or the person who you are speaking to phone is tapped . One can’t discussed the quantity or quality of cocaine on the phone a specially with someone you just met on a flight. Buju is a great entertainer but he’s not a smart person.

    • Deleoncourt
      April 16, 2019

      Several kilograms of cocaine does is not the equivalent of a minor traffic infraction. It’s more than reasonable that a person who has been convicted of drug trafficking offenses and has served jail time be put under more scrutiny when entering someone’s country. Just because he is famous or is a good entertainer does not put him above the law !

    • Pipo
      April 16, 2019

      Well bro if you think driving with no licence or insurance is minor infraction I wish you good luck when you are in an accident with such an uncaring misfit, not only in the USA but specially here in Dominica.

  8. DC
    April 15, 2019

    What’s wrong with these Caribbean leaders? Stop being puppets. Buju is a legend who has many compositions with messages that we all need. The economic benefit is tremendous. Stop being followers and welcome the Rasta with open arms. Dominica, hope you have started the negotiations to have him here for the Creole Festival!

    • Ti Garcon
      April 15, 2019

      So we should have drug man running about as they want throughout the Caribbean? Screw laws them, tell him go Canada.

      • Karl Orndem
        April 16, 2019

        So we should send Buju back to jail is what you are saying? After he has served his time we should ensure that the artist starves and becomes a pauper which might in turn cause him to resort back to drugs? IS that what you are inferring? Noone said to allow anyone to continue to sell or traffic drugs. Buju is going to Trinidad as an entertainer to perform. Im sure you yourself ti garcon have broken the law a few times in your life, regardless of if it was just to steal your neighbors mango or to pass throgh someone’s private property. crime is crime. judge not lest you be judged.

  9. Me
    April 15, 2019

    Who cares? More importan that Tiger Woods won the Masters again. A really uplifting and positive story.

    • April 15, 2019

      Hello and good afternoon my people. Tiger Woods father is a black man and his mother is Hawaiian but he wouldn’t even acknowledge that he’s half black. So far as am concern I don’t care about that guy let him go and play golf with Trump so Trump can cheat him. How many white women have Tiger Woods married and they took his money so maybe they allow him to win to try and rehab him.

      • Deleoncort
        April 16, 2019

        Correction his mother is Thai of Chinese and Dutch decent .. he is mixed race .. he has never tried to be your black saviour …

Post a Comment

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

:) :-D :wink: :( 8-O :lol: :-| :cry: 8) :-? :-P :-x :?: :oops: :twisted: :mrgreen: more »

 characters available