Keep me in deep and dunce

One ah de things that ah treasure bout our Independence is that ah have been blessed to be around from de beginning. Yes, it’s ah short period, ah nation twenty-seven years ole is like ah grain ah corn or peas just bursting out ah de ground, you could barely see the green leaf coming thru de soil. So far we have had three different regimes, each playing down de efforts of their predecessor, but basically, dey like peas in ah pod, Real Estate Guv-ah-mint ill-an-eating away the birthright ah future generation: Mystique and Con-One more gone, My-row next, and de best ah de mainland up foh grabs. Ah recall back in 1979 we had arrowroot, banana, sugar was reintroduced soon after 1979. There was a coconut oil factory, de Diamond Dairy; there was de industrial estate at Campden Park with every factory shell occupied and hundreds ah young women employed. Guv-ah-mint owned agricultural estates at Richmond and Wallilabou, plus we still had de bulk ah de privately owned estates in operation. Guv-ah-mint also owned about six stone quarries and crushers. {{more}}

What is interesting is that today as we look around there is no arrowroot, ah factory yes but no arrowroot; de less said bout banana de better, in 1992 we exported one hundred million dollars worth ah bananas ah year, today dat figure below twenty million dollars ah year. De last pieces foh de sugar factory was sold as scrap iron ah few years ago! De coconut oil factory site is now ah car-park! Diamond Dairy became Die-man Die-ah-rear ah storeroom foh ah telephone company! De industrial estate is still standing but below fifty percent of de workforce it was say twenty years ago. Tour-is-him is de answer so de Guv-ah-mints estates no longer functioning and all de privately owned estates that produced arrowroot, bananas and coconut were cut up foh housing development. Today Guv-ah-mint does not own ah single stone crusher or quarry to provide aggregates not even foh Argyle, our sixth Airport to come on stream.

These are just ah few ah de things ah have to live with since 1979, literally witnessing de dwindling away ah my country’s rich natural resources. How could I ever jump up and wave ah flag on Oct. 27th, maybe just foh In-dip-and-dance, be it NDP or ULP, and my writings over de years have been saying this.

But yes, we now have ah good Eddy-care-shun plan, University Degrees are within easier reach than at any other time. Remittances from de USA, UK and Canada is like an industry but we seem to recognize only three friends in Tie One and Venezuela and Cuba who has given ah commitment to upgrade our medical services that is crying out foh mercy, we got good doctors but no tools to do de wuk. Tour-is-him is still in de hands of Uncle Sam! There is ah massive low and middle income housing project in progress. Our road network is improving. Ottley Hall Marina that should be making money, is set aside to fuel pull-it-tek-all fire, but these can be considered as de positive side ah things.

On de flip side ah de coin, people are not happy with de crime and drugs situation. De last couple ah weeks de Prime Minister openly add-myth there’s corruption at GESCO. Then just last week we hear bout ah six million dollars electricity bill due to Vinlec that was built up by Guv-ah-mint departments and official residences. We hear of ah number ah unpaid small bills and claims like drug testing in Bo-bathe-us teking months to be paid, holding up justice. Folks wondering if de Guv-ah-mint is having cash flow problems.

What we need as ah young nation is ah pull-it-tek-all environment that is not contaminated by whatever party in power. We have to move away from de ole I-dare of NDP Guv-ah-mint or ULP Guv-ah-mint or my Guv-ah-mint; instead it should be de Guv-ah-mint of SVG in which parties, organizations, church and individuals are all part of de decision making process. But if we must persist with de winning party NDP or ULP looking out foh its membership at de demise and destruction of de other side and by extension de country, then Independence foh many will mean keeping us In-deep-and-dunce!



ME LUD STAY OUT AH DAT

Justice Lyle St Paul hurt Lie-Za badly last week, she read something in one ah de newspapers and she not happy with de tone of his remarks about teen mothers reentering school to finish dey Eddy-care-shun. She say if what she read in de papers is true, then yuh should be told de full story, how de very Revered Sister Patricia Douglas, now deceased, saw abundant life after childbirth foh teenage mothers, she didn’t judge and condemn any ah we young daughters foh getting pregnant out ah wedlock; some ah these girls have been raped by fathers, step-fathers and male adult exploiters. She offered them ah second chance at her Co-Ed “Convent School” similar to de one you were disallowed to take bananas to your sister ah student then. Ah number of these girls have gone on to reach higher heights than many ah those who never got pregnant in school. Lie-Za cant believe that you, ah practicing born again Christian, could have such ah negative social conscience, me Lud, ah think was backward she mean and not negative. Me Lud, she say don’t blame de poor girls, dey are de victims, maybe we need to look at de system and see way we go from here. And is gone ah gone again sir.

One Love Bassy