Yes de no has it

Yuh mean to tell me dat after six years ah public meetings all over SVG, N-less trips traveling all over de De-ass-poorer, collecting and compiling information for ah New Can-she-chew-shun, de moment it reach in de hands ah de Polly-trickans, all fall down. Ah like how Dr Richard Cox puts it “De process is ah hostage to party politics”. Dr Cox asking foh ah postponement ah de Riff-ah-run-dem. De PMC asking foh postponement as well, hoping dat both parties will get ah chance to think in de national interest and not from ah partisan point ah view. But de Guv-ah-mint will see dat as ah defeat, ah back-door way of submitting to ah vote “No”!{{more}}

De way ah did overs dis Constitution Reform Process was dat everybody, de pull-it-tek-all parties, Civil Society, de Bar Association, NGO’s, individuals et al were to submit dey contribution to Mr Campbell and his Committee who would ah put it all together and presented it to Par-liar-mint. Den de nex stage was foh ah higher Committee ah experts in Constitution, Dr Alexis and dem, to sit down wid both sides and reasoning to-gather wid all minds opened as wide as de owe-shun. Hopefully our men in Par-liar-mint would ah give and take and come up wid de best Form-yuh-Law. Certainly ah didn’t get it right. When de Draft reached Par-liar-mint, it got ambush and right now it’s ah pull-it-tek-all hostage!

After de debate in de House, the Parties will go on de Calm-pain trail and dat’s when it will be all about Ralph and Arm-in, ULP vs NDP. Wid dat kind ah hostility, let’s not fool we-self, it will get dirty and those who genuinely saying “Yes” now, are likely to vote Party and say “No”! On de other hand those who are genuinely saying “No” now, are likely to vote Party and say “Yes”!

In ah situation like dat de two-thirds majority “Yes” votes required to change de Constitution is not likely to mek it. Dat would be ah shame, maybe dey’s ah reason, as Bally did say “what is to happen will is”, de good Lord is always in control!

SIR JAMES IS STILL DE GREATEST

Ah told Lie-Za ah met Sir James on Friday coming over to de mainland. She wid she come-mess self say Sir James does have to come over to cook Fish Braff foh de Grands, Bing tries his best but de kids keep comeplaining dat dey want Grand-dad’s nice food. Seriously though, he was organizing to go to Can-One way de folks down dey were holding ah memorial service for Sir John Compton. Saturday marked 70 years since Sir John left Can-One foh Sin Lucia. De young John was on de rock wid ah fishing rod, his uncle who was visiting, saw him and told him what he should be holding was not ah fishing rod but ah pen. Dat Uncle took John to Sin Lucia and back to school. De rest is His-story.

But Sir James is still de greatest, even now he’s out ah office. We talked on almost every topic: Constitution, de Intellectual one foh Lawyers and de Grass-root one, but he will air his comments soon. We talked Argyle Airport too, quite interesting view, “de look good culture killing we”, he said. Nuff ting to talk but no time nah dey, Sir James will always be Sir James, I-man-I Jah Rasta-far- I.

FERTILE-LIE-ZA

Ah feel happy dat Farmers here are getting ah Bail-out wid ah reduction in de price ah Fertilizer. ‘Nuff Respect’ to de Guv-ah-mint and ‘muchas gracias’ to Mr. Chavez thru his Pay-thru-Carib initiative. Beggars are not choosers but de price ah Fertilizer still high, and de Farmers might still end up short. But ah penny saved could be ah penny earned. When de econ-nak-mek down-turn first surface in de USA and Mr Bush and Congress had to Bail-out some ah de Banks and factories, ah made ah claim foh ah Bail-out foh our Farmers and Fisher-folks here too. De Fertilizer Bail-out is ah bit late, but ole people say better late dan never.

Lie-Za heard about de assistance to Farmers and wants to know what’s in it for her, after all she is ah Farmer too. Ah asked her what kind ah Farmer she is, and she said she plants herbs and flowers, ah Whore-to-Culture Farmer. But she is upset hearing her name call-up and nothing reach her yet. Den she explained further dat she falls under de category ah small Marie-Warner Farmer as well. She has a basin and ah ole-poe in her back-yard wid ah few Marie-Warner plants, and all-body say her Herbs are very potent, got to be de soil in her pots is very Fertile, dat’s why all de boys dem does call her “Fertile-Lie-Za”! And wid dat is gone ah gone again.

One Love Bassy

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