Buju allowed to perform in Trinidad

(Trinidad Guardian) Na­tion­al Se­cu­ri­ty Min­is­ter Stu­art Young says Ja­maica’s dance­hall and reg­gae star Bu­ju Ban­ton will be the green light to en­ter the coun­try for his much-an­tic­i­pat­ed “Re­demp­tion” con­cert sched­uled next Sun­day at the Queen’s Park Sa­van­nah.

Ban­ton, who re­al name Mark Myrie, was sen­tenced to ten years in prison in 2011 prison af­ter he was con­vict­ed in the Unit­ed States of con­spir­a­cy to pos­sess co­caine with the in­tent to dis­trib­ute.

Ban­ton did not serve his full term was re­leased from jail last De­cem­ber.

This coun­try’s im­mi­gra­tion laws bar any­one from en­ter­ing the coun­try if they have a crim­i­nal record.

At Thurs­day’s post-Cab­i­net me­dia brief­ing, Young was asked if Ban­ton will be al­lowed to per­form in Trinidad in light of his crim­i­nal record.

He said the mat­ter was on his desk.

“Bu­ju Ban­ton falls foul of our im­mi­gra­tion laws in Trinidad and To­ba­go.”

Young said he asked that a mes­sage be con­veyed to the or­gan­is­ers of Ban­ton’s con­cert “that they need to make an ap­pli­ca­tion to the Min­is­ter of Na­tion­al Se­cu­ri­ty for an ex­emp­tion.”

Young said at this stage he was pre­pared to give such an ex­emp­tion.

Dur­ing a Pub­lic Ac­counts Com­mit­tee meet­ing on Wednes­day, Na­tion­al Car­ni­val Com­mis­sion chair­man Win­ston Gyp­sy Pe­ters said ap­prox­i­mate­ly 2,000 for­eign­ers had al­ready pur­chased tick­ets for Ban­ton’s con­cert.