Buju cleared for Trinidad & Tobago concert

(Trinidad Guardian) Ja­maican dance­hall artiste Bu­ju Ban­ton has been grant­ed per­mis­sion to en­ter T&T this week­end for the “I am Leg­end” con­cert.

The per­mis­sion form was signed yes­ter­day by Min­is­ter of Na­tion­al Se­cu­ri­ty Stu­art Young, who al­so gave the nod to oth­er Ja­maican artistes Wayne Won­der and Lu­ciano. The pe­ri­od grant­ed is from April 19 to 22.

The trio is card­ed to per­form at the Queen’s Park Sa­van­nah, Port-of-Spain, on April 21.

The let­ter stat­ed that there is no ob­jec­tion on grounds of se­cu­ri­ty for Ban­ton, whose re­al name is Mark Myrie, Lu­ciano (Jep­pher Mc­Clymont) and Wayne Won­der (Von­wayne Charles).

Ban­ton was sen­tenced to ten years in prison in 2011 af­ter he was con­vict­ed in the Unit­ed States of con­spir­a­cy to pos­sess co­caine with the in­tent to dis­trib­ute. He did not serve his full term and was re­leased from jail last De­cem­ber. But this coun­try’s im­mi­gra­tion laws bar any­one from en­ter­ing the coun­try if they have a crim­i­nal record.

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.