One Caribbean, one constitution

MY “ONE CARIBBEAN” is at it again. First it was Federation, we mash up dat and everybody tokk In-deep-and-dense along wid de Queen, like she hurt ah lot ah people in SVG. But soon we saw need to be to-get-her again so we form ah ting called Carifta, den we broaden it to Carry-come, den we narrowed it to Caribbean Single Market Economy; from dat we called foh ah home grown Caribbean Court of Justice. Not to mention de OECS, de CDB, de ECCB; And now we playing cat and mouse as Who-go Shove-his ALBA pon us. Ah believe to fully participate wid ALBA we got to rat-if-I de Constitutions, so one after de other, de islands will be having Constitution Reform.{{more}} PM Gonsalves decided to test de waters and de tide wash him way like soon-ah-me. St Lucia is next in line, den it’s Sin Kitts’ turn, De Awe-position in Dominica is promising ah new Constitution in eighteen months if elected. Pan-dey and Part-trick Man-in T’n’T having early discussions on ah new Constitution foh T’n’T, sounds good eh, but if Pan-dey can’t get along wid even his own party colleagues, of his own race, can Man-in mek it wid him?

But is so we stop in de Caribbean, when ah Ting hit de region we does behave like if it, in dis case, Constitution going out ah style. To my mind, wid all d’s regional institutions already in place, if we are serious about ah regional formation dat will function, one day eventually, wouldn’t it be better if we go foh One Constitution foh all de islands. We have enough experts in Constitution Matters to be able to select ah task force to draft ah Constitution foh ah One Caribbean. Man de USA, de greatest country in de world, wid fifty-sum-ting states, got One Constitution, why we in de Caribbean wid ten lickle pace-in-tale islands always got to be different. All because every lickle Prime Minister got to place his/her name in de His-story books, so dat ah hundred years from now, some lickle So-and-So could say “ yuh know is my great-great-great grand father wrote de Constitution”. Poor PR, he must be wounded, ah sure he would ah love to be part ah His-story.

WE-WE-WE-WE PLAN FOH DEM

On de third day of Christmas my true love said to me: “ No burr-jet, No bone-us, and ah Vote No Christmas foh all ah we”. Well it is official, de PM will present de Budget, de 2009-2010 Estimates in de middle ah January 2010. Serious ting dat, Sum-ting like it happening to London Bridge. What will happen to de customary Christmas Goodies dat usually come wid de Budget, de Bone-us and Back Pay? Was it an over-sight or could it be dat de Guv-ah-mint was so sure of ah Vote Yes victory, dat de plan was to call General Elections right after, get ah fresh man-date and den present de Budget foh de new term in January? Sometimes when we plan foh Ting, we never know is de same way Ting dey planning foh we too. Like de story wid de ole lady and de patch ah We-we-We-we, ah kind ah Callalo, she dey fertilizing and wetting de plants everyday and talking to dem, boasting how she go stew dem and mek one big meal. “Not ah soul getting any to taste” she said. Dis time She ain’t know de We-we-we-we dey listening and planning foh she too. She cook one pot ah We-we-we-we and over ate, by mid-night she too-too bag buss, die-ah-rear foh days!

Ah don’t know if me eye fooling me but all dem Guv-ah-mint ministers and party supporters like dey eat We-we-we-we, so devastated dat Jeer-all Thompson found himself participating on de NICE Radio, Tuesday NDP night program, sum-ting unheard of in Vincy Polly-ticks.. Since de Riff-ah-ruin-dem over, ah had one glimpse ah de PM on TV, comforting himself and supporters wid words, man de Riff-ah-ruin-dem aftermath got him, All-he-get-ah false grin, unfortunately de anger and agony is visible, like when people got belly pain, ah swear he had too much ah Pull-it-tek-all We-we-we-we to eat and it fix him up!!

Dey could eat all dey We-we-we-we, ah will stick to me Tri Tri next week Sat-dey. And wid dat is gone ah gone again.

One Love Bassy

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