Can Junior back-us save Buccama

Tour-is-him provides ah quick dollar dat could split up into many lickle ten cents pieces hey and dey and every way, one foh Tax and one foh Taxi, one foh de craftsmen and entertainers, ah few foh de Hotels, once we serve local foods, our farmers and fisher-folks could get ah bite and so on and so forth. So it is ah good dollar. But it is not widout its nega-tiffs. While ah could overs Guv-ah-mint’s urgency to capture as much ah de tour-is-him dollar as we can, my concern is when ah Guv-ah-mint would bend to back breaking point to accommodate developers, going de extra mile even threatening and pressuring local land owners, farmers to sell off dey lands foh Tour-is-him.{{more}} It pains when hotel developers are allowed to illegally abandon people’s roads, blocking off public beaches and access to beaches, and Guv-ah-mint wouldn’t bat ah eye.

Down at de Buccama Development my position was made clear from day one. Ah don’t like de I-dare of converting any of our prime agriculture lands into tour-is-site. But if de prime food lands must mek way foh de might ah de white, den please compensate de owners adequately.

De Buccama development is ah big project, lots ah money already spent and from all indications, much more to be spent. Somehow initially, de project was not sold properly to de locals, particularly de Farmers who own parcels of valuable lands within de area earmarked foh de hotel development. As ah result de developers have had dey share ah problems and still have problems wid ah few local farmers who have legal title to dey lands. De developers are now stuck between ah rock and ah hard place. Ah believe dat if dey had de slightest I-dare dat dey would ah get so much ah objections from all these unforeseen quarters, dey would ah never spent ah penny here.

One ah de fellars who has been ah thorn in de developers flesh is Junior Back-us, mind yuh wid justification. But Junior wearing so much ah hat now-ah-daize dat is hard to pin him down. He has ah firm dat offers professional services, job recruitment, consultancy and all sort ah ting. He along wid one Matthew Thomas, his co-host of ah Radio Talk Show, have been monitoring any hanky panky actions in de country. When news broke dat de Buccama beach was going to be off limits foh locals, dey went foh de developers, so much so, mouthers on de Guv-ah-mint side accused dem of being opposed to de Hotel Project because ah political reason. In SVG if yuh oppose what’s wrong, yuh get branded.

But very early-o-clock Junior had identified wid de local farmers in dey struggle, providing dem wid professional add-vice first when Guv-ah-mint wanted to kick dem off dey lands, and den wid de developers who urgently want to buy dey lands foh de hotel project. As ah result Junior won de confidence ah de farmers and now holds some influence on most ah dem.

De Developers are having serious problems dat de want solved, when it ain’t wukers, is land or beach. Dey have to start finding solutions, ah wonder how came ah negotiator like Buns was not invited to bring sobriety to de problems dey, but it seems like de Farmers will not want to sit wid anybody connected wid de Guv-ah-mint side. So de developers have tried ah master stroke. According to Junior, de Developers have asked him to negotiate ah settlement on their behalf wid de Farmers. Ah want to believe Junior and ah feel strongly dat if he does succeed wid ah settlement den he would have done not only de Guv-ah-mint, but de country a service that otherwise could have made us lose ah few hundred jobs and bring millions ah dollars to de country.

Ah would ah expected Buns and Hans and other anti NDP Radio personalities to have put aside de polly-ticks and give Junior some credit foh dis one, instead ah hear dey had ah feel-day ah de young man, labeling him all sort ah ting, ah sell-out, ah double crosser. Dat’s Bad! Real Bad!

HOLD ON TO YUH PANTS GLEN

Ah don’t know why Lie-Za is so concerned about young Beach. She not happy how he slowly getting his pants pulled off like de US Naval officer on whom de Police administered what is de lowest form of humiliation one can dish to ah man, mek him drop his pants in public. Commissioner Miller shame on your boys, and shame on you if you do nothing about it. But Glen Beach is Lie-Za’s concern, she say dat is one pants de PM will not pull-down and pass it off as ah kiss and ah hug. She say Glen is wid de trend, he spruced up de Blues Fest wid popular artistes and shifted de venue to de Cassino compound. Like he forgot dat de Silver stars owned dey, everybody, young and ole say dey love de ambience, but de PM didn’t think so, at his press conference he criticize de venue and suggested Arnos Vale Playing Field as ah better venue. But de bum dat shattered Lie-Za is when Glen was relieved of his ministerial responsibility foh Youth and Sports and is left wid Tour-is-him alone. De only ting wus dan dat is Conrad Say-yes who is minister of nothing, never was, is or will be. But Lie-Za is no fool, she say if Glen got any Prime Mini-steer-all ambition, forget it, he will not be given ah chance to X-hell, and she feels he will not be ah candidate next time around either, and it is not Robby. Dat too is Bad! Real Bad!

POWER TO DE YOUTHS

Ah no longer in de Carnival business, but ah couldn’t help reading dat ah group, mainly young people, under de gyidance of de experienced Sheggy John, one ah SVG’s former great mass band leader and designer, has formed ah band but cannot get recognition from CDC, dey have to play two years before dey can get any assistance. Ah believe ah got it wrong, if not, why are we talking bout getting de youths involved in Carnival, seems like we throwing cold water on de young people’s passion foh de Vincy Mas. CDC dat is very Bad! Not Developmental at all! give de youths ah chance. And wid dat, is gone ah gone again.

One Love Bassy

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