If they hadn’t crippled the farmers

Editor: An old farmer went to the capital Kingstown last week trying to get to the Co-op Bank. At the gallery of the Subway restaurant he met a 12-year-old school boy who asked him for change to buy cakes. The farmer not wanting to be scammed that day invited the youngster to go to the nearby Greaves Supermarket where they selected a bag of cakes. The boy then asked if he could get some juice to go with the cakes, the farmer consented and paid for the items from the 70 dollars he had budgeted to pay for the fuel to last him the rest of the week.

Not 20 minutes later, the farmer had to respond to an appeal from an old worker in the mercantile sector who had been incapacitated by an injury on the job and seemed convinced that he had been getting the “dance around” from one of the local lawyers here. The old worker needed a sweet drink urgently as he was diabetic.

What a pity that our present administrators have become so indifferent to the interest of farmers and the role they have played in fortifying the resilience of this agricultural community made up to a large degree of the progeny of ex-slaves. One of the principal elements in this cloud of blight which now over shadows our land, has been the indifferent, insensitive and in some cases the nakedly treacherous abandonment of their roles, by persons who several decades ago, by virtue of their scholarships and exposure to more sophisticated intellectual vistas, were widely respected.

The Vincentian people who had once seen these personages as trustworthy leaders, now regard them as having squandered their integrity.

That impression prevailed on me when on the Monday night TV series “The Law and You” I heard the distinguished Parnell Campbell QC pronounce that when in the 2009 Referendum, the majority did not agree with every clause which had been presented, they had thus voted to retain the Queen as Head of State, and that made the declaration of Emancipation Day irrelevant to SVG in 2019.

The Bible documents, that the counsel of a queen does not always result in healthy development! Our leaders should see that the fortifying of our agricultural industry could bring us dependable relief! (a) Reduction of the congestion of the sidewalks in Kingstown (b) Fewer children having difficulty at school (c) Reduction in non-communicable diseases. (d) A tremendous impact on Unemployment and Malnutrition. Change them and let them renew themselves!

Yes SVG needs change!

LeRoy Providence