Vincy Vibes Shafiqua Maloney

We have been following Shafiqua Maloney as she pursues her Athletic dream. Her performances keep the name of SVG on the Athletic map. It was always Shafiqua Maloney, St. Vincent and the Grenadines. She has an unmistakeable style as she moves with her hands pumping through the air.

In recent games she has led and pulled herself away from the others as she did at the recent Lone Star Grand Prix. She has however a long way to go. Let us as Vincentians celebrate her victories and also overall performances. Let us sing her praises so that she knows her country is very much behind her. We should give her any support we are able to. She is apparently looking forward to the Commonwealth Games and ultimately to the next Olympic Games. But let us be real. She won the 800 metres at the Lone Star Grand Prix with a time of 1 min 57.34. A day after Audrey Werro of Stockholm won the Stockholm Diamond League with a time of 1 min .53.98, with Keely Hodgkinson placing second with 1:54. 33. Hodgkinson had won Gold at the 2024 Olympics with a time of 1:56.72. As is to be expected there is movement in times with all these athletes and others will come to the forefront. Hopefully Shafiqua will be one of those at the forefront.

That is the reality and Shafiqua has a long road ahead. So let us not at this stage be carried away with naming things after her. Some had suggested the roundabout at the entrance to Mesopotamia. Hopefully the chance to name things after her will come, perhaps it will involve something more than the roundabout. This is not to deny that she has already put SVG on the Athletic map. What she needs now is our encouragement and knowing that we are all behind her.

Post November 27 Grumblings

The now Opposition ULP did not take kindly to their defeat in November last year. The word from the High Ups was that the people had made a mistake. This set a pattern for what followed. A whopping 14-1 victory is no indication that the people had made a mistake. To say such is to deny the reality. One has to resist the temptation to repeat what the 1927 song said, “50 Million Frenchmen can’t be wrong”. The focus then is on undoing that wrong! I am not sure “By What Means?” But it has led to a lot of negativity and on the part of some, stupidity. I will give an example. I had on Facebook come across a Roundtable discussion that involved the government of SVG and the UN Barbados and Developing partners involving the World Bank, Caribbean Development Bank and other regional and international partners. At the time I began looking, Ambassador Kevin Hope, Advisor in the Prime Minister’s Office was addressing the gathering and putting in context the SVG economic state of affairs; the country’s harsh economic realities including the national debt and efforts at structural transformation, highlighting in the process the role of the private sector. He was urging the development partners to assist in unlocking the ‘economic animal’. The response of one hostile voice was that there was “No Substance” in what he was saying. I am not sure that he understood what was being said but had to say something. The partners in their different contributions spoke of the clarity of vision, the candid nature of the government’s approach, their attempt to define their own direction. With the theme of the Round Table being “From Recovery to Transformation and Resilience”, it was felt that the government’s candid approach set the right tone for the workshop. It was really a Call to Action and the partners stood read to play their part.

There were other negative reactions, but I only pulled out that one. I am focusing on the negativity. The development of the country appears not to be in the minds of some people. What they want it appears, is to see their government back in power so they could collect once again the handouts to which they had been accustomed. Interestingly they are quick to criticise any action that appears near to what their government had been doing and being criticised for doing so. There is a big hullabaloo about an undertaking by BRAGSA to clear deposits of material that had been pushed up during the last eruption of the volcano. I was first made aware of the large deposits from a posting by Paul Cyrus who said that there was a lot of money to be made from it and the need to clear what had become a dry river. It was quite different from the Rayneau project against which so much criticism had been levelled. Bragsa explained that it was not going to be affecting the Tri Tri cultivators since what was there was only a dry river away from human settlements. There is so much negativity coming from supporters of the former government who appear not to realise that much of the socio-economic mess came from the activities of a government that controlled the fortunes of the country for almost 25 years. This is not to say that opposing views and critical comments should not be tolerated. After all we live in a democracy and all views count but hopefully without the negativity. It is interesting that Dr. Gonsalves is so easily accommodated on SVG TV, something which they did not appear to allow to the last Opposition Leader. There are many that have no interest in building the country of their birth. Hopefully this is a mere passing phase!

•  Dr Adrian Fraser is a social commentator and historian