Ah vote yes belly-full

IT WAS NICE ah de Guv-ah-mint to get National Commercial Bank (NCB) to host ah Vote Yes dinner in recognition of de Bank’s valuable customers at de Prime Minister’s residence last Sat-dey night. Ah hear ah lot ah food got lef back, dat ain’t sound right, because anyway we Vincy go and dey serve food, we eating and when we leaving, we walking wid ah extra plate covered wid foil foh de lickle ones home. So is either de three thousand invited customers didn’t turn-up, or half ah dem who went is Vote No people, dey didn’t eat; dem fraid sum-ting bin in de food dah go mek dem Vote Yes.{{more}}

But sum-ting ain’t right at de NCB, is more in de mortar beside de pay-slip. Lie-Za asking how de Bank could mek ah profit of 15.8 million foh de year ending 2008, and foh dis year de profit drop down to 1.1 million. Dat is on de profit side, on de loss side, dat’s on loans, from ah two hundred thousand dollars loss in 2008 to 10.6 million in 2009.

Lot ah non-cents going on. What ever became ah dat two million dollar ULP scheme foh small businesses fun-did by NCB. It was suppose to be one ah de PM’s brilliant I-dare of M-powering young people, have dem trained by Projects Promotions, den give dem 15 and 20 thousand dollars loan widout security to start business. NCB money over which dey had no control, a party supporter wid no bankng experience was installed at de Bank to decide who will get funding. No wonder some ah dem went shopping in de USA, one trip and passage and accommodation con..sume half ah de money, others tek de money, went New York and ain’t return yet. Lie-Za wondering how come we ain’t hear bout de success ah dat program in de Vote Yes calm pain.

And den dey’s nuff talk about de 100 per cent mortgage to public servants and teachers, no security, all ah dat will drain de Amazon dry, poor NCB. But how could I say poor NCB and dey tek nearly 100 thousand dollars and had dinner foh its loyal customers and ULP supporters. Is like ah feast today, tomorrow fah-mine.

NOT LESS DAN MARKET VALUE

De proposal for Compensation in de proposed Constitution reads as follows: “Compensation which in all circumstances is fair and reasonable to the person and also to the state”. Marcus De Freitas settlement or non-settlement is enough to tell us dat de phrase “fair and reasonable” is inconclusive and will cause confusion. Ah tribunal was set up to arrive at ah “Fair and Reasonable” price foh Marcus’ property. John Thompson represented Guv-ah-mint, Stanley De Freitas was Marcus’ rep and Justice Bruce Lyle presided. Valuations were prepared and presented by trained, professional Valuators, these values were obviously based on Market Value. De Judge made a ruling on what he considered from among de Valuations as Fair and Reasonable. But lo and behold, dey was an appeal, and one would think it would ah come from Marcus, no way, de Guv-ah-mint. Now here is ah classical example, on one side is de Guv-ah-mint dat is telling you in ah proposed constitution, dat “compensation in all circumstances must be fair and reasonable” but dey are refusing to accept ah decision on what is fair and reasonable by ah learned Judge. Can we trust d’s guys foh ah fair deal? Never!

On dis one, if no other, our constitution must be specific, dey constitution must provide de Judge wid ah clause dat relates to ah figure relevant to de date and time; and dat clause should be “not less dan current market value”. If de Judge awards yuh ah figure less dan market value, den yuh could appeal. Dat will be fair and reasonable to person and state.

FIX DE PROPOSED CONSTITUTION FIRST

Everybody licking up de present Constitution, how it was handed down to us. So we getting our home-grown document, on de Yes side dey saying all kind ah ting. First dey was saying “it is de best doc-yu-mint of its kind around”! Dat statement went up ah notch, “it is ah perfect document”; and when de criticism gets to strong dey say “it is not perfect but it better dan de one we have”!

De proposed constitution is not ready yet, people and not just NDP supporters are outlining flaws in de document. Yuh can’t expect me to Vote Yes and endorse ah document dat needs to go back to de manufacturers. Now my Vote No is not to say ah don’t want ah new Constitution, ah want ah Constitution to which Ralph and Arm-in agree. Right now Arm-in is wid Ralph half de way. Things done by half never done right, so it must be fixed before it is passed. If ah Vote Yes it will not be fixed, but when ah Vote No, it must go back to Campbell, den he will bring ah people’s constitution and not Campbell and Ralph’s. Otherwise ah will “Vote No” twice de next time.

Ah forget to mention last week dat Tri Tri will be on Fri-dey and Sat-dey, ah believe it will be ah big harvest. And wid dat ah gone again to mek ah flambeau foh Sunday night “Vote No” Candle Light March.

One Love Bassy

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