Bassy - Love Vine
June 14, 2013

Word ah mouth nah load ah head

As de International Airport heads foh ah touch-down at Argyle, de-bait continues. De latest is dat de Pry Minister got de country “some good money coming” EC$ 204 million, including $54 million foh de sale of 40 acres of good lands in Can-One, dah’s $31 .00 ah sq. ft. not ah bad price. Talking bout “selling out de country, our children’s paltri-money?”{{more}}

We are hearing dat dis money is “to continue wuk” on de Airport; initially we were told dat de money was needed “to complete wuk” on de Airport, ah lickle twist ah de Lie-in town. Lie-Za’s engine-near friend told her dat “continue work on de Airport” is more like it, and dat de Pry-Minister will be back in de House ah year from now, and de year after, for more money to complete de project.

Way de Airport is concerned is nuff pull-ah-tricks dey playing. NDP playing wid words, dey support de project in theory but not in practice. Is like de folk song: “Yes we have no Bananas” or “Yes we foh de Airport but not de construction!” Right now de NDP ain’t see de Airport as ah priority. Not when de Banana industry needs close to EC$40 million to see it back to half de money earner crop it uses to be, and stimulate de die-ing e-con-ah-me. Not ah cent of dat $204 million goes to Banana. My pre-dick-shun is dat Banana gone thru! In de meantime business in SVG turning sour, and as fast as Life get ah lickle less sweeter dey close door:
 
Veira Super-market at Arnos Vale close down last week; Sun Sail say business not as it was four years ago, dey have reduced operations by half, de other half ah de business is die-verted to Grenada and St Lucia, way business is brighter. Lie-in Lie-Za say another Super Mark-it has begun to pack up. How come these matters are never dis-cussed by de ULP Talk Show Hoarse and dem? Clearly both de ULP and NDP Talk Show Hoarse have dey prop-ah-gang dah wuk foh dey party all lined up. Oh how ah miss stalwarts in de business, de late Glen Jackson and EG. Lynch now in hospital. What EG alone uses to do, it teking de hole NDP to run shift Cook-in-up de program; and what Glen alone uses to do effectively, on his 99.9 Shake Up program, it now takes close to ah dozen band-wagoners and two Radio Stations to cover.

Lie-Za is adamant dat every person, ah repeat every man Jack who comes on ah ULP talk show, as Hoarse or co-hoarse is on de pay-role, riding de Gravy train wid ah bowl. All sold out! Who not on-board yet oops, she means on ah Board as yet, will get dey.

Is ah shame how Ralph getting into “collision and wailing” looking foh money foh de Airport, and big, supposed-to-be respectable men, are only prepared to spread party prop-ah-gang-dah subjecting dey manhood foh ah dollar. So Lie-Za is challenging dey commitment to Ralph, de country and de completion ah de Argyle International Airport. Dey boast on radio all de time of de Airport’s viability as ah sound financial venture. But she is asking dem all to cut de set ah verb-age and put money next to dey mouth.
 
Those wid savings at de Bank, whether pension, gratuity or de “sell my soul money,” withdraw ah five or ten thousand and lend, not give it to de AIDC as ah soft loan to continue wuk on de Airport. She not finished. All those who think it’s OK to sell out our children’s patri-money our lands handed down by past generations, whether is Can-One, Bequia, Mt Wynne to bill de Airport, she asking how many ah dem willing to sell ah piece ah dey land, or mortgage dey home, and hand de money to de AIDC as ah soft loan to complete de Airport?”

My girl is not talking out ah con-text, she reminds me of Denzil Bacchus who touches only Gold, he however showed his faith in de Airport project and made ah commitment to give de AIDC 100 thousand dollars, he already made ah deposit ah 40 thousand dollars. Her last question is foh all those who been echo-in de PM’s MT jargon bout de sale ah de NCB is ah master stroke, how many ah dem pay-tree-at responded to de Bank of SVG’s call foh dem to buy shares?

She reminds me of de story when her boyfriend Lie-owe went to de Circus and was all excited about de stunts man who walked across ah tight rope wid ah girl on his shoulder. She asked Lie-owe if he believed all ah dat was foh real, man he was ready foh an argument, he reminded her dat he saw it all wid his naked eyes. Den she posed de big question on him : “are you willing to sit on de stunts man’s shoulder and let him walk on de rope wid you?” Yes fellars, let’s hear yuh all on Radio telling de nation what was yuh financial contribution to de Airport, secondly, how many shares in de Bank of SVG did any ah yuh buy? “Word ah mouth nah load ah head” or is it “Fool ah talk but nah fool ah listen. And wid dat is gone ah gone again.

One Love Bassy

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