Ah could write two pages now

So much thing to say dis week, ah hope dat now de Searchlight printing right here in SVG, dat de Editor will give me space to write two pages. So first ah want to congratulate SVG Publishers foh de bold effort ah group ah Vincies took to set up ah Printing Press here in SVG. Dis week when yuh read de Vincentian and de Searchlight remember dey printed Right Hey, creating jobs foh Vincentians Right Hey and de money dat uses to go overseas to print de papers staying Right Hey. Congrats folks.{{more}}

Next ah want to Big-up de Governor General who thru his contacts got ah soccer team from the Christopher Newport University of Virgin-yah to visit, in fact he hosted de team. Since he got GG he been trying to get something done, he tried consistently wid getting top class concert musicians to come here and perform, raising funs foh charity etc, but d’s functions normally tek place mainly at Government House, and dat means only hi-t-ti-t people could attend, ah not knocking him at all, but finally Sir Fred reach back to his roots, back to de game ah de Paul’s Lot and Layou boys way he grow up. Ah believe dat is de first time de local footballers got to sip Cock Tail at Government House. Dat is ah plus foh Sir Fred and ah overs dat he will accompany our local team on ah return visit to Virgin-yah next year, and de University wants to offer ah couple ah de local star players scholarships, but dey don’t have de academic entry qualification. When yuh tell dem darm children go school and get de necessary subjects, dey don’t hear, dey only want to run up and down and kick ball all day all night. Ah hope Bro Hugh Wyllie, Father ah de Adult Education Programme could I-dentify d’s youngsters and give dem ah crash course to ensure dey don’t lose dis one-dah-full opportunity. Lie-Za will not give de GG ah chance, she want me to ask him if is de name Virgin-yah dat rouse his curiosity just to go see foh he-self.

APOLOGIZE JULIAN

And next ah want to comment on dis “hot water” dat Senator Julie-Ann Fran-Sis foolishly got into say how seven See-we-an voted foh Hamlett in 2001 and 19 voted foh he in 2007. Quite frankly anybody listening to de tone ah de Senator’s voice, dat confidence slash arrogance, would ah been convinced dat he had ah peep at de ballots, but even if he saw de ballots after elections, is no way he could know dat except de people dem made dey “X” de way it is made in de Lebon-ease or Syrian-ease alphabet. Julian should ah never mek such ah he-responsible statement, all he did was to get Rodney Adams the Supervisor of Election into more trouble as if Frank Da Silva’s picket-line isn’t enough. His recent explanation of his use of body language to determine who voted foh him, helps only to compound an already complicated problem, all he needs to do is go back to Par-liar-mint, withdraw de statement and apologize foh de confusion.

PARSTAH CHRISTEN HE PICKME FUSS

De dictionary says Nepotism is de practice of giving one’s relatives unfair advantages when one has power. And dat is de subject up foh debate dis week. Is de appointment ah de PM’s son as SVG’s Ambassador to de UN an act of Nepotism, did he wid all his qualification get an unfair advantage? Ah don’t know what is de required qualification fo dis post, ah know de young man is ah bright boy, has ah couple degrees in Engineering, Law, whatever and could learn quickly on de job. When ah asked who else is there to chose from, dey tell me nuff people, all qualified, trained, experienced and some even over qualified. Top ah de list is Dr Richard Cox, Julian Jack, Ms La Celia Prince and Cyril “Scorcher” Thomas both working at our US Embassy, and of course Jomo Thomas. Poor Jomo, word on de street is dat dey, and yuh know who is dey, give Jomo six months to survive wid his Law Practice here. So how come all d’s qualified people got bye-passed? Well Folklore tells of ah story way dey Deacon line up all de pickme dem in church one Sunday morning foh christening, but when de Pastah walk down de aisle he see he own pickme way at de back waiting dey foh christen too, so he wash he hands as Sir Lou-we say Pastah say, and den Parstah walk pass everybody in de line and christen he own pickme fuss!

Sir Lou-we is my brother in Christ but he nearly mek me choke wid laughter dis week when he told de Press dat when he approached de PM on de appoinment ah Camillo, de PM told him he washing he hand from dat. Mur-dah wuk! Is wash Pilate did wash he hands mek Jesus get crucified. Lard ah choking, dat one can’t go down, too big to swallow. Our PM love to wash de body parts, when is not wash yuh foot is wash he hand; but is ah good thing ole people say “fool ah tark, but nah fool ah listen”!

WHITE SAND WHO’LL BUY MY BLACK SAND

Dat Ken John could show off, he got hold of ah copy ah Dr Richard Cox’s book “Were Mama’s Tears in Vain” and he pompous-set pon all ah we in his column last week. Anyhow Richard hand delivered a copy to my home last weekend and even though ah just start de book, already I am fascinated with de writer’s approach in dealing wid de evils ah Colonial-is-him by making effective use ah we African Folklore, Jumbie Tales and Nancy Story. Ah does read slowly in fact ah does every-ting slowly so ah only finish chapter one; “The Dead Man Living With Us” which fits nicely into what ah wanted to write bout dis week, de Buccama project dat still haunting me. All dis late development over white sand on one side ah de beach and black sand on the other side is heading in one direction, white sand foh whites and black sand foh blacks, watch and see. Ah can’t get over how we all sat back and remained silent as our local blacks (Rastas) were thrown off dey lands to mek room for de Redcoats, character courtesy Dr Cox’s book; note how dey jel wid our Rad Rats. But ah hearing dat dey diverting de water from de Buccama River onto their property; dis is not only going to disrupt de river flow but destroy our treasured delicacy de Tri Tri as well. And de Redcoats are coming at us again, ah overs dat another group ah Redcoats are taking over 600 acres at Mt Wynne, so good buy Mt Wynne beach.

And wid dis lickle half page, ah gone again.

One Love Bassy