Black mayors’ conference to go ahead despite controversy

Plans for the island to host the 40th annual summit of the National Conference of Black Mayors (NCBM) will roll on, despite recent internal strife within the group.

Donal Smith, who yesterday was acting mayor for the City of Hamilton, said the conference, scheduled for this October, would help uplift the economy. Alderman Carlton Simmons, meanwhile, said: “I cannot see how this is a negative thing for Bermuda.”

Last year, the conference was surrounded by controversy. The group’s elections — where a president is chosen — was challenged as illegitimate. 

Past NCBM president Kevin Johnson, a former NBA star and current Sacramento mayor, indicated gross financial mismanagement plagued the group, which resulted in it being stripped of its nonprofit taxation, $1 million in debt, half a million dollars in back taxes and multiple angry creditors and vendors that the group owed money. 

Mr Johnson, who promised to “shake things up” with the group, was ultimately forced out. Those gathered at the City Hall press conference on Tuesday  to announce the annual meeting here in Bermuda were not interested in talking about any of that.

NCBM President Michael Blunt, who is the mayor of Chesilhurst, New Jersey, dismissed assertions that his group was insolvent and said the controversy that ignited last year was “just propaganda.” 

He was more interested in hailing Bermudian hospitality and echoing Mr Smith’s comments — the conference would be a win for the local economy.

After the press conference, Mr Smith said the $100,000 the Corporation of Hamilton has set aside for the conference would be used for a public relations and marketing campaign, materials for the event’s programmes and website development.

Mr Smith expects there to be at least 400 attendees to the conference — there could be representatives from Cote d’Ivoire, Uganda, Senegal, Brazil and even China, he said.