Fya Empress fires back

Nedd-Reid’s lawyer Keith Scotland yesterday issued a pre-action protocol letter to TUCO, a day after the organisation in charge of the competition made the decision to disqualify her. TUCO late Wednesday upgraded Lynette “Lady Gypsy” Steele to a full-fledged finalist after she challenged her exclusion from the list of finalists.

Scotland in his letter to TUCO, acknowledged that Nedd-Reid was a citizen of St Vincent and has resided in TT for over 15 years.

He demanded that Nedd-Reid be reinstated in the finals by midday today. If TUCO fails to do so, Scotland says his client will approach the High Court for an injunction forcing the organisation to reinstate her.

He also said Fya Empress has been registered with TUCO since 2007, and participated and won several titles in this country. “Our client is the 2007, 2009 and 2010 Tobago Soca Monarch; 2012 National Calypso winner and the 2014 Tobago Calypso Monarch and has participated in numerous competitions governed by your organisation.

Our client has been married to a TT national since 2002 and has applied for Permanent Residency since in or around 2004,” Scotland wrote.

He said Nedd-Reid was never advised of a requirement that she must be a national to belong or participate in TUCO’s competitions.

“Our client first registered with your organisation in 2007 with her St Vincent Identification Card and informed your organisation of her place of birth. Further, she voted in (TUCO) December 2017 election using her St Vincent Identification Card, which was accepted by your organisation,” Scotland wrote.

“We contend that by virtue of our client’s long, undisturbed and frequent participation within your organisation, our client now has a legitimate expectation to participate in the National Calypso Monarch Competition 2017.” Lady Gypsy claimed Nedd-Reid is not a TT national and was therefore not qualified to compete.

Lady Gypsy’s lawyer Gerald Ramdeen gave TUCO 24 hours to disqualify Nedd-Reid, quoting Rule 2.7 of TUCO’s adjudication handbook, which states only T&T citizens over age of 16 are allowed to participate in the competition.

Lady Gypsy narrowly missed out on a place in the final, placing 16th in last Saturday’s semis with her rendition of “Plight of my People”. She was listed as first reserve and will now compete due to the disqualification of Nedd-Reid, who placed eighth in the semis.

Fya Empress, who sang “Guilty” to earn her a place in the finals said she had been a financial member of TUCO since 2007 and was never banned from participating in competitions.

She also won the TT Calypso Queen competition in 2012.