De real death penalty

Bishop Friday’s article “Capital Punishment Part 1” published in the Searchlight Newspaper last Friday, was ah Gem. De Bishop, in an inspired piece of writing, is giving valuable “moral advice to de state” in particular our decision makers dat boiling over wid perceived vengeance, and may I add, misguided “believers in Christ”. One can only hope that the Bishop’s article would help put to rest de venomous arguments foh the Death Penalty being vented in de papers by seasoned Pastors and “Jane and Jonny come lately” Christians as well.{{more}} But de Bishop can expect fire (more fire dan way hit de Financial Complex) from all quarters, because he has entered ah debate in which many of us, unauthorized servants, have become experts on de subject quoting left, right and centre from de Bible, the believer’s handbook. On de one side are those who saying dat anyone found guilty of willful murder, should dem-selves be punished by murder. They are responding straight to Moses Law foh Jews at de time, which states: “An eye foh an eye, ah tooth foh ah tooth.”

On de other hand, people like Bishop Friday are sticking to de instructions of Jesus Christ as to how Christians ought to deal wid anger, and Jesus’ words are quite clear : “You have heard that it was said ‘an eye for an eye and a tooth for a tooth’ but I tell you, don’t stand up against an evil person. If someone slaps you on the right cheek, turn to him the other cheek also.”

Ah don’t want to pre-empt de good Bishop because he has ah Part 2 coming, but ah won’t be surprised if he mentions de incident wid de teachers of de law and de Pharisees who carried de woman who was caught in ah-dull-tree to Jesus, dey wanted ah judgement from Him. Dey reminded Him dat de law of Moses commanded dat she should be stoned to death, in today’s language, she should face de Death Penalty, Capital Punishment. Jesus dismissed dem all wid one simple answer: “Any one ah you who never sinned can throw de first stone.”

Den He forgave de woman of her sins, who are we to order de death of another foh ah sin committed? De death penalty is just an emotional yet understandable reaction, is like using ah sticking plaster to cover ah wound dat needs de attention of ah surgeon. In Canada dey’s no Death Penalty, and in Ontario, de Province way ah dey, de murder rate is less dan two persons per hundred thousand; in SVG de rate is close to twenty per hundred thousand. My humble submission is dat de Death Penalty for executing murderers is in itself murder, and does not guarantee further prevention of murder. Having said dat, my girl Lie-Za who is ah strong supporter ah de Death Penalty, got she own I-dare on Capital Punishment foh de more deficient areas ah society. She recommends de Death Penalty for Illiteracy; empower our people wid knowledge and skills dat will provide dem wid gainful employment. She recommends de Death Penalty foh Unemployment, dat monster dat leading all dem youngsters out dey into trouble, robbing and committing murder. She calling foh de Death Penalty immediately foh de dreaded Cancer and de poor Health services in SVG. She recommending de Death Penalty foh Corrupt-shun, Dishonesty, Hatred and Spite wuk, de thing dat drives our polly-trickans to get up on pull-it-tek-all Rust-rum and justify all dey wrong doings. She is asking what sin of ah-dull-tree did teachers Daniel, Johnson and Thomas, and Dispenser Bowman commit? And den she digresses and send to tell me dat ah fire broke out in de Finance Complex, and she asking me if ah think it got anything to do wid de fire and brimstone dem men piling up in de cabinet, to dish out.

She also reported dat de Prime Minister operating from home. Her exact words is dat even de elements ah mother nature is sending de PM ah message: “Time foh him to stop home!” And she got de nerve to add, is only now he go Miss Bee-heave.

CANOUAN SECONDARY SCHOOL…WHY NOT

Ah refuse to get into de come-mess wid way Parliamentary Rep. Terry Olliverre “say” or way de Prime Minister “say” bout ah Secondary School foh Can-One. All ah have to “say” is dat any leader or representative who places cost above need when it comes to Education foh de minds ah our youths, has lost his/her vision. Ah know of two private schools operating successfully in SVG; one wid ah student population ah less dan twenty, dat has both primary and secondary students; de other ah primary school wid less dan fifty students.

Ah must give young Terrence Olliverre his kudos, he has been consistent in his vision foh ah Seconday School foh his homeland Can-One. In his vision, he talks ‘bout skills training, and ah would imagine he means, training in hotel and hospitality services; and how easily dat should be foh de Guv-ah-mint to ask de hotel developers in Can-One foh ah full sponsor foh such ah Course, hopefully using de expertise of de hotel staff. Other courses will include de several aspects of Fishing, catching, preserving and later canning of fish; repairing and maintenance ah both motor vehicle and boat engines etc etc.

Ah Secondary School at Can-one should be opened to ah-dull’t, parents and workers on de sland. We need to get our priorities in order, we can’t talk Eddy-Kay-Shun Rev-all-yuh-shun in one corner ah we mouth, saying things like “no child should be left behind” and in de other corner we discriminating against de poor kids on Can-One.

And wid dat ah gone again. One Love Bassy

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