4.MAY.07

EDITOR: Successive administrations seems to have misplaced the formula for just how much of the right kind of attention should be paid to the Grenadines and in particular Bequia. The NDP failed to deliver and now the ULP seem hell-bent on making up for the NDP’s delinquency, but with attention the nature of which amounts to HARASSMENT.{{more}}

First it was Crown lands in Crown Point/Industry/Park. Then we heard of plans to import GARBAGE from Canouan into Bequia. Now we have that INFAMOUS DOLLAR. Hit after hit. Why is Bequia being targeted? Some misguided blockhead seems to have fooled the Prime Minister into thinking that we have oil down here and that everyone in the Grenadines is rich. Aren’t we already paying too much property tax? It costs three times as much to travel from Kingstown to Bequia (oneway) than it costs from Kingstown to the farthest point on the Mainland and now you want us to pay $2 more? (we’d soon be required to pay the dollar when leaving Bequia. IT’S NOT JUST A DOLLAR MR. PM. AND IT IS A BIG DEAL. NO-ONE GAVE YOU THE POWER TO RULE BY DECREE! Of course we can afford to pay the dollar but no-one pays it without protesting (and of course abusing the cashier). Doesn’t that tell you that something is wrong? Here’s how it’s SUPPOSED to work in a DEMOCRACY learned Doctor; you set up your ferry terminal and charge ANY AMOUNT of money to use it, but give me the CHOICE to walk my usual route and board the ferry. NOT force me through an obstacle course (complete with highranking Law Enforcement Officers) and charge me a DOLLAR for the HARASSMENT! How much would it cost to rent the ground floor of that ferry terminal? I estimate an average of 350 persons travel to Bequia alone daily. Can the Port Authority make $350 per day ($10,500 per month) renting the ground floor of the building? Would we soon be asked to pay a dollar to use the ET Joshua Terminal to travel to the Grenadines by air?

NO! NO! NO Doctor G, this is one pill we aint gonna swallow! Give us what we really need in Bequia: a HOSPITAL, the CHOICE to fly from the Bequia Airport to St. Vincent and the other Grenadine Islands at least once per week (we won’t have to pay any dollar), a community centre in Port Elizabeth, and how many YEARS has it been since any money was spent on ROAD REPAIRS in Bequia?

Yours truly,
GARIFUNA