Nutten we could do

Ah can’t help if ah sound peso-mystic but ah watching de turn ah events and ah beginning to feel dat we are in ah state of serious helplessness. Nuff tings, not good tings, happening to us and we seem to have no answers, we too weak to put up ah fight. Food prices up and dat includes every ting we eat, down to salt, Nutten We Could Do! Gas, Diesel and Kerosene gone up again, Gas is now $15.50 ah gallon, Guv-ah-mint done give de green light foh increase Van fares.{{more}} No cat or monkey could climb as fast as de Vinlec light bill climbing. We paying three times foh electricity, we pay foh de current we burn, we pay foh de fuel de generators burn and we paying foh VAT. No matter how much N-ah-G we conserve, it never reflects our light bill and is Nutten We Could Do!

The Water bill is de only ting dat we not afraid to open, and even dat people come-plane-in. Oh Telephones! Man, woman and child got sell-phone, Is only Rover and Pussy-Lyn left to get sell-phone. De money dat de children teking to buy phone cards, should be using to buy something more essential, books and food. De average home is now spending twice as much on telephone as we did before sell-phones came. Ah suppose it will tek ah scandal like dey die-ah-nose ah deadly can-saw in de ears, dat is caused by sell-phone before we will get smart. Dat might not mek ah difference, because AIDS is more deadly dan ever, in spite ah free condoms available and all de ah-wear-ness calm-pain. Before ah tell yuh police records show, every other week is a murder.

Ah doh believe is Nutten We Could Do!

Our Agriculture is like ah paradox, we should call dat Ah-G-culture. Dey tell us we need to increase production, but de more de farmers produce de less dey get, expenses killing dem, de dance can’t even pay foh de lights. Ah listened to ah lady Ms Webb, daughter of de famous Webb of School Boy Beer (mauby) fame, speaking on Radio how de Farmers’ financial benefits in dey crop must be extended right into de sharing ah de profits. She feels Farmers should be de highest paid wukers. Dat will happen when Farmers wear jacket and tie to go wuk in de field.

Total help-less-ness in our Bananas. No such ting wid Apples and Grapes though, dey are the peaches in fruits. Ah wonder if is because Banana come from poor people terry-tree, why all dis war to destroy our Bananas. Banana is on every agenda in every international conference. And when come to Organisations, the name Banana has been among dem all: From GEEST to BGA, WIBGA, WINBAN, WIBDECO, WINFA, WTO, EPA. De uncertainty is discouraging and frustrating de Farmers, up to now we still don’t know how we stand wid Banana, and is Nutten We Could Do.

In de field of Sports, our Football and Netball, de games of de people, at one time we been in de top three in de Caribbean, now we down to de bottom. Come Fri-dey all eyes will be on de Jamaican athletes at de Beer-Gin Olympics, Veronica Campbell, Bolt, Powell and several others. Can’t say de same foh our two athletes who are not likely to go past de preliminary rounds, but we can’t fault dem, can we? We still don’t have de basic facilities here foh athletes to prepare dem-selves foh international events. Ah suppose de Stare-dum will have to be shelved till de Airport done. By de way, tell me way going on wid de wuk on de Library on de Customs Building, is weeks ah notice nutten going on, plus de Buccament Bay project still closed, dat is hundreds ah wukers sitting idly by. Ah will insist dat is Nutten We Could Do.

JOMO GOT HIS WUK CUT OUT

Ah went to hear Jomo, as ah did promise. Jomo’s concept foh his “Peoples’ Movement foh Change” meks cents. Every speaker made it quite clear dat pull-it-tek-all office is not dey immediate objective; but lifting de people’s awareness and involvement in discussions related to de country’s business is de first step. Ah somehow get de feeling dat we not ready foh Jomo’s fee-loss-he-fee. We still want to be pull-it-tek-all-he enslaved, Massa has gone, but we can’t function widout dat image, be it ah Pappa or who ever. We must have ah Massa to trap our minds, yuh see it’s de mental enslavement, quite different. Ah feel dat people went dey to hear Jomo denounce ULP and NDP, announce his Party, declare himself de heir apparent, read from somebody’s Man-ah-fete-so, release de names of his candidates thereby setting de stage foh his Third or Fourth Party as well as de next elections. Lie-Za say she joining up wid Jomo’s Movement, but he got to buy she plenty clothes to Change and ah vehicle foh when she ready to mek her Movements. Jomo Boy is Nutten Yuh could Do bout dat, but best ah luck. And wid dat is gone ah gone again.

One Love Bassy.

Bassy Alexander is a land surveyor, folklorist and social commentator.