Jomo, yuh served well

AH BEG TO DIFFER from all those criticis- him of Jomo Thomas, those who beating up pon him foh pullit- tek-all sins he may or may not have committed, during his tenure as Speaker of de House of Ass-m-blee. Dis is not to say dat Jomo did not make one ah two mistakes, de chief of which was when he returned from de USA.

He scoped de scene and from his own ass-cessmeant, he decided he had more in common wid de Progressive Gone-soft’s ULP Go-venom-mint, dan de back-ward thinking of de NDP. But Lie-Za keep pounding it in my tough skull, dat Jomo fooled he-self in thinking dat ULP was part ole’ Labour and part ole’ UPM of which Ralph and he Jomo were members donkey years ago. Lickle did he know dat ULP belongs to Gone-soft, his own create-shun. Dey’s no Labour or UPM in dat party, is all Gone-soft and his “underings”.

Right away, Jomo took up way he left off, he start writing “Bold and Beautiful” language in his Newspaper Column “Plain Talk.” Lie-Za say dat Ralph only smile when he read Jomo, dat was about de same time when Ralph made de statement “Dey will all have to come back to meet Papa!”

When it was made public dat Jomo had been accepted as ah member of de ULP, Lie-Za told me in con-feed-ants dat ah must pray foh Jomo, because she sorry foh anybody, man, woe-man or child in de Party who, whether real or apparent, appear as though s/he could be ah threat to Calm-Low on his march to de fullfill- mint of de Gone-soft’s Die-nasty. Jomo got addmyth- ed to de Party, “Join de Farm-early”, and was placed in South Leeward to do de impossible, dat is to fight against “Nature” who had inherited another NDP Die-Nasty created years ago by Jerry Scott.

As was planned, orchestrated and manipulated, Jomo barely failed to steal, as in teef de South Leeward seat, so he was compensated wid de post of Speaker of de House.

Wid all fairness to Jomo, he did ah darn good job as Speaker; and as my former Villager and near-bar, ah proud ah Jomo. He was indeed ah breath ah fresh air compared to his predecessor, my name-sake Hentrick Alexander, whom everybody, except Lie-Za, say when Ralph said jump! Hen-trick would ask: “how high sir?” Jomo was or still is ambitious,pull-it-to-killhe, profess-shun-all-he and otherwise. Quietly or cunningly, ah think he was too Nah-eve; he sat dey wid his eyes pon de South Leeward seat in Par-liarmint, like he did not read de hand-writing on de wall in Papa’s Taj-ma-hall dat read: “ Me-nay Tek-yeh,” meaning if ‘Me nay’ ah member ah de Farm-early, tek yeh bundle and go!”

Time was running out, elect-shun due anytime in December, and Papa (king David) realize he is growing ole and outdated and would want to go home and rest, but he not leaving any semblance of obstruct-shun to his (son), de ear and suck-cessor, Solomon. So dey created an environment of uneasiness and disrespect foh de Speaker and ah dis-appointed Jomo was forced to go pre-maturely.

Lie-Za say she hear dat dey even gave Jomo ah solemn promise, dat if he mounts de rostrum on de Calm-Pain trail in South Leeward, he will be presented with ah supply of stones, as ah token, ah fear-well pull-it-tek-kill death gift.

Ley me end way ah started. Jomo may have softened up at de wrong time, but ah give him ah seven out ah ten foh his tenure in de House. We must read all de writings on de wall, under dis add-mini-stray-shun, Gone-soft runs things. He got all ah his Ministers, Professional and Technocrats in de very important ministries muted in silence, while resorting to Twirly and Twisty lyrics to discredit every wrong-doing de Awe-position trying to expose. And wid dat is gone ah gone again.

One Love Bassy

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