Bah bye NCB

One ah Lie-Za’s ole time fellars dropped her ah lickle note and while she is happy to hear from him, she ain’t like de content.

De fellar obviously knows ah ting-ah-two bout banking and is telling her dat if de NCB is not privatized now, we could safely call either Eveready or New Haven Funeral Home and mek arrangements foh ah early burial. De NCB in SVG does not function like ah real bank, it basically serves a few bank functions: One of course is de end-ah-month depot foh people to cash dey pay cheque or collect what’s left ah de salary after de loan.{{more}} And secondly it is de Guv-ah-mint’s piggy bank way dey could walk in, shake down de Board ah Directors and even management and mek dem pay out and prop up overdrafts foh (bad deaths) created by welfare projects like Town Board, Housing and Gesco/BRACSA. De Argyle Airport gets its fair share via NCB, public servants salary, scholarship fun, none of de above entities bring in any real capital (Cash), well not enough to cover dey pull-it-tek-all operations. So in reality our NCB is ah Public Sector financial institution, like de good ole time Colonial Treasury. Why else de CDB had to bail it out? Lie-Za’s lickle Note states dat foh its thirty plus years of existence, NCB continues to be de only indigenous bank in de region dat is not privatized and as ah consequence, it trails way behind de other NCB’s. De Bank’s assets is around 700 million dollars, operates wid ah over staff of 180. De NCB in Sin Kitts on de other hand, wid ah population of forty thousand people, went private long time, now boasting assets of over two billion dollars, dey bank staff is about 100. Ah guess de Prime Minister in Sin Kitts does not instruct de bank to issue loans, or hand pick his supporters and friends children and plant dem at de NCB. But hey dis, lickle Nevis wid ah population of twelve thousand, de NCB dey is privatized as well, dat bank got 400 million assets, staff is 40. So, privatization of the bank seems to be its only chance of survival, incidentally it’s de consensus of Gonsalves, Eustace and Sir James, as if dey have an option. De problem is, who is going to buy over an ailing institution wid in ah country wid lickle or no signs of immediate private sector growth. ULP is socialist, pro public sector and while dey will want to claim tremendous growth in de Private Sector, dat growth is not reflected in de assets ah de NCB. De Buccama project seems to be de only significant private sector project created by de ULP, but dat is plagued wid uncertainties, every fortnight is ah problem down dey. Now when de bank goes private, before it gets big, it will have to get small. We could expect a huge reduction in staff, maybe not immediately, but at least fifty percent ah de 180 wukers could start looking foh wuk. Ah sorry foh de NDP that seems certain of getting de electorate to Vote No.. vember again! But ah man gotta do what ah man gotta do!

TWAR TWARR TWARRR

Ole people don’t put “bad mouth” or “cry tears” pon other people like long ago. And dat might explain why kids long ago were so full ah respect foh de elderly. As ah youth when yuh offended an ole citizen and s/he “cry tears” from dey eyes and tell yuh “yuh days will be bitter”, dah was like ah death sentence. De only ting worse dan “ crying tears” was when s/he point ah finger at yuh, spit on de ground and say “Twarrr!” Man yuh blight till death, nothing yuh put yuh hand to will prosper. Ah know ah friend who was making strides as ah youth and he follow bad company and provoke ah innocent ole person mek she cry tears, within ah few short years he went to pieces, nutten, Twarr do foh him! Having said dat lickle bit, ah want to visit de ULP dah was doing so well early o-clock in office, yuh couldn’t say anyting bad bout de Come-red or de party; now all of ah sudden, within days everyting falling apart, de Thug Boat, de Chamber of Commerce car park dirty deal etc. My conclusion is dat de PM hurt somebody, some unwarranted ole person along de way; and de body give him de Twarr, dey point dey middle finger at him, fire spit at him and said: “Twarrr, yuh days are numbered and dey will be bitter”! Why does nuttin seem to be going right foh de Guv-ah-mint, right now de PM is like ah man in de deep blue sea, can’t swim and wid both ends ah de rescue rope in his hands. Watch fo de amount ah projects dat was suppose to mek SVG de pride ah de “Carry-beyond civil-lies-say-shun” dah just Twarrr like dat. De Stay-dumb had soil breaking ceremony, dead in child birth; de cross country road got ah beginning and ah end, but no middle. Food City; Can-one causing indigestion and Buccama constipation; NCB was like another bomb scare. Minister Dug-he Slater, ah trusted minister, was de most embarrassed man when Dan Cummings produced dah document foh non-payment ah Hospital Drugs, ah wonder how he go handle de Auditor’s damning report on de “Locally financed Cuban integrated health program”. Equipment like computers etc paid fah and cannot be found. Ah new vehicle changed eight new tyres in ah year. Dah poor Cuban medic would be shocked to know dat s/he is supposed to have eaten 64 pieces ah KFC in three days. Some body in de ministry-ah- hell’t got more passion foh KFC as in Ken-tek-he Free Chicken dan ah chicken hawk, but soon “Twarr foh s/he, bitter days ahead”. In fact I am told dat dey’s lots ah room at de Belisle correction site. And wid dat is gone ah gone again.

One Love Bassy

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