Government bans Flavor from performing

The government of the Dominican Republic  has banned the performance of one of Nigeria’s finest musicians Flavor and his band at the World Creole Music Festival (WCMF) later this month, saying it is concerned at the spread of the deadly Ebola virus.

Prime Minister Roosevelt Skerrit said he had directed the Dominica Festivals Committee (DFC) to remove Nigerian musician Flavor from the festival due to concerns linked to the outbreak of the Ebola virus that has killed more than 3,400 people in Africa.

“I have advised the organizers of the World Creole Music Festival that the government of Dominica would not be prepared at this time to sponsor or embrace the visit of persons from a universally recognized Zone One area of the dreaded Ebola virus”.

Flavour was scheduled to perform at the Festival on Saturday, October 25, and Skerrit said the other African band, Soukous All Stars would remain on the lineup since its members reside in Paris, Montreal and New York.

“I have reviewed the file with respect to the contractual arrangements entered into with the Flavour Band out of Nigeria. To date a total of EC$147,000 (One EC dollar =US$0.37 cents) has been expended on professional fees and international travel by this group,” Skerrit said.

“This is a lot of money. But, in my view, it pales into insignificance when matched against the consequences of exposing the people of this region to the risk of the Ebola virus,” he said.

Prime Minister Skerrit noted that, purely out of an abundance of caution, he had also instructed the organizers of the festival to meet with officials of the relevant legal departments of government to determine among themselves how the matter of a renegotiation of the Flavour contract can be entered into.

He said that he is hoping that if the Ebola virus is cleared or controlled by this time next year entertainers such as Flavour could visit and perform in Dominica