Ah was forced to doubt

De wisest man once wrote dat “dey’s nothing new under de Sun!” So all dat happening now, happened already and will happen again even in lickle SVG. Yuh must forgive me if ah keep boring yuh wid ah set ah ole time non-cents, but when ah was ah lickle youth, ah very progressive ‘Black Man’ name Carey Wilson owned de Lyric Cinema.

In addition to de regular Movie Nights, he introduced things like Coney Island with swings, ferris wheels and so on. Ah remember dey was ah Local Talent Night at Lyrics. It was ah Musical Competition open to one and all, just sign up and come. Ah was too young to attend but de over-night, morning after talks still resonating in me head and de names of winners like Berry Cox ah Baritone and de Clouden sisters, Bricks Wilson stand out. Now ah doh want nobody meeting me and cussing me say how ah did not men-shun dey father or mother name eh.

Now out ah all dis Local Talent was supposed to be ah Movie. Dey was an audition, competition style, by ah Talent Scout from T’n’T; Doc Care-not John seems to remember his name as Haywood but he was ah real Trinny smart-man as good as Christopher Columbus and David Ames. Ah overs de Cinema was ram packed, de entrance fee was doubled and de Talent Scout smiled, was he ever so impressed, nothing but glorious praises foh everything dat he heard. He selected two Stars who were to travel to Hollywood to mek dis Movie. One winner went home de night, woke up his mother and said: “Mammy ah star is born!” Mr Haywood collected all his money, left foh another island, and nobody ever heard ah thing bout Mr. Haywood, de Movie or Hollywood. Fooling us in SVG is nothing new. Far-rain, Regional and Local. It happened before, it happening right now and sorry to say it will happen again.

So lef me right hey if ah sound like “ doubting Thomas eh?” Just ah few short years ago, Venezuela, of Blessed memories, gave us thirty thousand (30, 000) Lap Tops (Computers) foh every student thru-out SVG. Ah remember asking who will service all these sensitive equipment dat will be in de hands of curious children. Thompson, de Minister at de time said dat 300 Teachers will be trained in de technology, specifically to service de Lap Tops. Tell me when last yuh see ah child wid ah Lap Top. Lie-Za say she saw thousands of damaged Lap Tops dumped in ah store-room in de Min of Eddy-care-shun, waiting pon one ah de 300 (yet to be trained) Teachers to come fix dem.

More and more ah listen to de Marie Warner Story de more doubt-full ah getting. If I am to believe minister See-Saw, Marie Warner is de like de Local Talent dat is going to tek us all to Hollywood foh de Movie. Ah believe dat our Marie Warner will mek de trip to Hollywood, and ah believe de Money-cidinal-Marie-Warner will flood de shelves of de local Drug Stores oops, no Drugs but Pharmacies in SVG; ah want to believe dat not even de Rastas will be able to buy dis precious commodity.

Quite frankly ah want to believe dat Minister See-Saw is going about de project wid more clarity and cents. Ah laudable improvement to de group of prospective Infestors who, were invited hey ah few months ago wid an expert to test our Marie Warner, We were excited to hear dat de Expert had high ratings foh our Marie-Warner but, we later heard dat he was ah Professional Chef. Doubting Thomas told de other disciples dat he will not believe dat Jesus had arose from de Grave until he sees and touches Jesus. Let me be ah doubting Thomas when it comes to Marie-Warner. And wid dat is gone ah gone again.

One Love Bassy

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