Freely beg freely give

Ah beg to put in my two cents bit on P.M. Bruce Golding’s rebuke: “ all yuh Caribbean PM out dey stop beg!” And ah would like to add “when yuh Beg, and yuh get, stop brag like if yuh did wuk foh it!” We chanting de US because dey stop giving us hand-outs, ah think de US find out dat we luv ah freeness, we luv squandah, luv bad spend, pocket donors money even buy vote wid Beg money. Dis applies to one and all, yellow, red and green. De US stop giving us Fish, we could get ah fishing rod and hook from dem to go catch we own fish. Apply foh ah Visa, go up, spend ah six months, try yuh luck- see how nice it is to catch yuh own fish!{{more}}

De North-South Shy-nah situation is ah recipe foh Beg-in or Beijin! Guv-ah-mints in de region openly playing cat and mouse game wid Big China and Lickle China, to see whom dey could Beg foh de most, dat is not Beg-in, dat is ah Hoe-ring.

Now Lie-Za thinks our Jah-pon-knees flens cum to cash Flish while de Tie-one-knees, who dey hey over 20 years, been trying wid-out success to teach us to fish. We seem only interested in de millions dey dish out foh Banana, foh Agriculture, foh +country road etc. Every body luv dem, parents can’t wait to get Tie-one-knees money foh primary and secondary school scholarship. And did I hear Sir Louie last night at de Tie-one-knees 97th birthday party say “regardless ah de Tie-one-knees policy, we will support dem?” Tell me ah had too much rice wine to drink Sir Louis, or was it yuh.

So we need to drop de Beg-ah-dis-ease and grab-up some ah de technology from de Tie-one-knees on how to grow exotic fruits and flowers, rear pigs, farm shrimps, and lots more dat could better we lives. But why should we, when our Guv-ah-mints like dey got dey aunt-tenors beamed on any Far-reign country way dey could say I–ran to tap-up our Beg-has habit

Beg! Beg! Beg! and nothing to return is bad. Beg-in has made us sell-fish and greedy. Hey’s Cuba, ah friendly country to us, one whose direct assistance to us over de years would run into millions ah dollars, not to mention extra Value Added to de Country thru its programs in Education, Medical and Health benefits, Hospital, Airport, N-ah G rmember de light bulbs? But last month Cuba was badly hit by Hurry-cane, and ah was disappointed when ah read dat Renrick Rose and Friends ah Cuba made an effort to raise funds to help our brothers and sisters in Cuba, and was only able to muster 25 thousand dollars. Lard ah would feel shame if dat is all we could send. Is 100 thousand people in SVG and we should be aiming at ah dollar ah person, let de strong cover foh de weak, dat will mek ah total of one hundred thousand dollars, anyting less is an insult. De same way we luv foh Beg, we must luv to Give.

SORRY BOUT DAT FOOD CITY

Lie-za insist dat ah must respond to ah ting she see in de ULP’s column last week dat said “even Bassy raised ah red flag when de ULP Guv-ah-mint invested in de state-owned supermarket (Food City) to effect some price control on de handful ah privately-owned supermarkets”. De truth is dat no sooner de 2001 elections was over, de ULP embarked on its election promise to deal wid supermarket owners: Greaves, Bonadie and Veira who refused to shift from NDP. De message was clear, “operation close down” foh de three super-marketeers. Dey refurbished de Guv-ah-mint supermarket and rename it Food City, den at de grand opening, ah minister ah Guv-ah-mint, de one who does all time miss-behave like dem fellars who does Sell-de-Boy and dem weed, in his awe-dress, he add-vice de gathering “not to buy from de other super-markets’! His comments was so dis-gust-ting dat even de PM had to revoke his statement and in turn, add-vice shoppers to ‘buy from everybody, but shop around first’ he said. Dat was when ah raised ah Red Flag, ah nevah know is Red Flag ah does raise, de Lord have mercy pon dem who raising White Flag and surrender dey sole to ah hapless bunch. How could anyone not object to such out-rage-us miss-behave-yah, way ah Guv-ah-mint was embarking on ah mission to mek three business close dey door, plunging over ah thousand bread-winners out ah wuk?

Ah feel badly to touch on Food City because ah got ah nice relationship wid most ah de hard wuking, low-paid staff. Ah does go dey specifically to support de local farmers. Food City sells more local fruits and vegetables dan de others, and dey must be applauded. People close to de party saying dat is de road dey should tek, packaging and marketing local produce, sell to de other supermarkets and look foh outside markets. No, dey prefer dis hem-ridge foh ah supermarket, dat has failed to have ah controlling effect on food prices, in fact it is de second most expensive place to shop foh groceries.

Why de ULP don’t keep quiet, stop beating dey chest, meking believe dat Food City was such ah brilliant pull-it-tek-all move to regulate food prices and curb de hard E-con-nah-mek times. Truth is Food City not doing all dat well. Has anybody ever seen ah Profit and Loss, or is it Loss ah Profit statement foh Food City? Is it true dat dey crediting from local businesses, including some ah de very supermarkets dey were suppose to run off de road? Lie-Za must dip in she mouth saying ah must pray we have brown sugar next week and den ask if Vinlec did stand God-father foh Food City? In other words does Food City pay electricity bill? Ah think ah better go foh now, and is gone ah gone again.

One Love Bassy

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