Jomo has my blessings

Ah giving dem youngsters wid de new Party “ De People’s Movement for Change” (PMC) an endorsement. During my three scores plus years, a’ve developed great respect foh Youth Power and Potential (YPP). Right now ah monitoring two launching, de PMC, de more senior of de two wid Jomo Thomas, Richard Cox, Oscar, Marlon, Ronnie and company; and BEHOLD – dey was ah junior grouping that emerged just last week, youths fresh out ah school, Luke and Jamal Browne and company. Looks like ah reincarnation ah de Education Forum of long ago. {{more}}

We made ah big mistake thirty-five years ago when we did not grab hold ah de budding young politicians ah dat period, De Education Forum of de People (EFP) led by Ken John, PR, Eddy Griffith, Kerwyn Morris, John Cato, Eustace and others, all were exposed to higher learning. Instead we kept silent when dey were vilified and dey family homes ransacked by Police, looking foh literature. And finally when dey offered dem-selves as an alternative to Guv-ah-mint (DFM) and UPM we rejected dem. We chose de pull-it-tek-all Bah-rob-us’. Since we not supposed to mek de same mistake twice, ah giving dem youth-men me blessings.

Dis country has come ah long way thanks to de contributions ah Mc Intosh, Charles, Joshua, Cato, Mitchell. Presently our land is driven by or stuck in pull-it-tek-all war-fear. On either side ah de battle-field are de Generals Gonsalves and Eustace, each wid ah completely different fill-us-ah-fee, style and even colour, no not Race as in Black vs White, pull-it-tek-all Rat Race, Red vs Yellow. My problem is if yuh remove both leaders from dey flock, all de sheep will turn wolf, bite-up and eat-up one another.

Dey’s ah ting called Pull-it-tek-all Will-dah-nest way every leader got to spend time purge-in and purify-in, some ah dem does come out mellow, some bitter. Mitchell had ten years out in de Will-dah-nest; Gonsalves nearly thirty years; poor Ivan Owe-kneel and his Green Party stuck out dey and Arm-in finish doing seven long years. Jomo ain’t start yet and ah could tell him, it will not be calm weather and easy sailing foh him and his Party. But dat is de test.

Ah planning to go to de Party launch later, two tings ah don’t hope to hear though, de names Guns-off and Use-task, and no Long Talk bout De Progressives, dat word has changed to Progress-selves, Lie-Za calls dem Progress-siffs foh dem-selves, Ah want to hear way wrong wid how de country going, way it should be going and how dey plan to tek us dey.

On ah serious note, are we ready foh Youth leadership or are de youths ready foh de task? No we not ready foh dem, just listen to de comments: “Jomo looking foh power, way dey going wid third party, and so on”. But yes I think if dey tek time, no hurry bird build nest, firmly plant dey feet and spread dey wings wide, deliver de message thru-out de land, dey will not only be ready, but will be given ah chance to guv-on. Oh yes, and Lie-Za say dey must larn to keep de pull-it-tek-all wolves in Progressive sheep clothing off de train.

IS DE EXHIBITION REALLY ON?

Lie-Za begging me every week to ask de Minister of Agriculture if is October 2008 or 2009 dey having de National Agricultural Exhibition. Can’t be 2008 because she not hearing much about it, except ah press conference last week wid de CAO. Wid less dan two months to go, she not hearing any Jingles on Radio and TV, no Mini Exhibition in de Districts dat dey uses to have to help whip-up interest. No Miss Agriculture Queen Show. No Calypso Competition dealing wid de Theme. And in de same breath, she asking me what is de Theme. Dey not making maximum use ah de API opps. De API is foh Airport.

De talk is dat dis Agricultural Exhibition is ah face saving act by de pull-it-tek-all de-wreck-trait, foh dem to say is “De biggest Ever Exhibition”. But de Agricultural Officers, including de Minister know dat it teks at least one full year foh Farmers to start preparing, after all is not ah vegetable garden competition, growing eight weeks crop. Mek it worse room-ah say, some officers have had ah reduction in dey traveling allowance, even though fuel gone up. So she throwing some fuel in dey fire, by saying it will be de worse ever Agricultural Exhibition. And wid dat is gone ah gone again.

One Love Bassy

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