Mina Mina Shekel Upharsin

Vin-sin-shun Folklore or foh dat matter, Carry-beyond Folklore is full ah beautiful colour-here-shun. Ah think in grammar dey call it ‘Idiom’, ah typical example is de way we describe ah man’s last days or his ‘imminent doom or misfortune’: ” He gone thru! he time up! he days numbered and so on. But de one dat tops dem all is “De hand-writing pon de wall!” Dat one go way back to de days ah de prophet Daniel. {{more}}

King Belshazzar had ah massive “Rum Party” celebration to praise his gods of gold, silver, stone and wood, he presumptuously decided to serve his guests rum and wine in de holy gold and silver vessels that he had seized from King Solomon’s Sacred Temple. Solomon had built dis magnificent edifice from de finest jewels and timber, equipped it with vessels and communion glasses made from de finest gold and silver as well, and had dem all consecrated to God foh Holy worship. So really, King Belshazzar went completely over board wid those paraphernalia, it was like disrespect and desecration all in one, at its highest level too. But, de “Drunken Feast” was swinging, Nuff lick-her passing round, man head bad and everybody fete-in and whale-in; Lie-Za say dat one woman, high like ah kite, turned to another and said “is ah P.T. we have to die eh?” Den all of ah sudden another woman screem to de top ah she Vice, pointing above de King’s head; she saw de sudden appearance ah disembodied fingers (no hand) scribbling: “De hand-writing pon de wall!”

De place went cold and smelly at de same time, who aint wee-wee pon dey-self, shyte dey pants. One ah de King’s right hand man whispered “What de hell is dis! Way ‘de hand-writing pon de wall’ come from all of ah sudden?” To mek matters worse, nobody could over-stand dis unusual combination ah weights and measures written in three languages, Roman, Hebrew and Amaric dat place itself above de King’s head: “Mina Mina! Shekel! Upharsin!”

To solve dis riddle and cut my story short, dey sent foh de Prophet, Daniel who broke de sad news to de King: “Mina, God has numbered de days of your kingdom and brought it to an end; Shekel, yuh have been weighed on de scale and found wanting; Upharsin, your kingdom is divided and given to de Medes and Persians.” Maybe readers would want to read de full story in de Bible, Daniel Chapter 5.

CAN’T TEK DEM BOLD FACE LIE

To be honest ah don’t like way going on in de country, and ah not alone, people are saying dat “De hand-writing pon de wall” foh de ULP administration. De E-con-nah-mek down-turn dat shock de world ah few years ago, was not suppose to affect SVG, remember?

Well is now de E-con-Amy bad, Public Servants will get neither de long overdue increase nor back-pay. Dah’s an interesting situation, one recalls in 2000 de den Awe-position Leader, who is now de current Pry-minister, told de same Public servants dat dey must demand dey 30 per cent increase from de den Prime Minister, who is now de current Awe-position leader.

In de meantime, business places balling, dey laying off wukers left right and centre and Five is ah mystic number. Five wukers had no Lime juice foh Carnival, another Five joined dem foh emancipation; yet another Five will serve no more ah Ken Fry Chicken. Money missing hey, dey and every-way, but Corruption rampant in most all de Guv-ah-mint ministries, we only hear bout Agriculture but lots more to come out.

Confusion, Lies and Arrogance is gradually taking over Par-lie-ah-mint. We still await de official ruling from de Speaker on de matter way Nature Stevenson did quote from ah statement de Pry-minister was supposed to have made about de criminals in de hills. De Pry-minister denied it all, de Speaker manners-down Nature and instructed him to withdraw de statement. Next day de Radio Station played de tape confirming what Nature said about de P.M. was correct.

It happened again on Choose-dey dis week; Lay-cock reminded de P.M. dat Joe-Lie-in had boasted dat de Argyle Airport was not going to cost de tax-payers ah SVG one Red Cent. Both de Pry-minister and Joe-Lie-in denied having said those words, he not only did ah paraphrase (twisting ah words) ah what he had said, but requested ah playback ah de tape; dat we not likely to hear, because Lo and be-whole, de same Choose-dey night, Bert Francois on his “Current Affairs” radio program, played de tape over and over like ah Road March: “De Argyle International will not cost Vin-sin-shun one Red Cent, Mr Speaker!”.

Now Lie is not new in Par-Lie-ah-mint. Sir James had said dat he could answer any question, but he ain’t bound to tell de truth, he however did answer. But P.M. Gone-soft who said he does Lie, some ah de time, but not all de time, neither going down dat road again nor down Sir James’ road, he decided to play it safe to ah question from Senator Linton Lewis, he said he will not and refused to answer. And so de Saga ah Lie continues, de “Drunken Party” is in full swing, Lie-Za dey in de party fete-in but she say she keeping she eye pon de wall to be de first to see “de hand-writing pon de wall.” And wid dat is gone ah gone again.

One Love Bassy

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