Ah willing buyer and ah willing seller

Ah wish dey was more trance-spareand- see in de Sandals Buccama Hotel Deal. To just say Sandals made ah down payment and de deal will be completed in three months’ time, wid no indication as to cost etc, is total disrespect to de Nay-shun.

Buccama was scheduled to be reopened three times over de last 18 months.

My take is dat de ULP is embarrassed and is in ah state of desperation getting Buccama moving again. Nobody seems seriously interested in investing in dat project. Four years ago, de hotel was forced to close suddenly, de owner ran-away leaving outstanding monies owed foh electricity, wages, taxes, etc. Plus ah number of shareholders or investors in de company living abroad stand to lose it all. In de meantime the property was left to run down. Lie-Za say, right now she expects to hear Go-venom-mint say, as de PM said wid LIAT, Buccama was sold foh one dollar!

Dat project got so much other problems, land title foh example, de Rastaman Shaka is asking foh ah reasonable price foh his land. One ah my greatest appreciation foh treasured Land in SVG, my homeland; was to value ah parcel in Cane Garden dat ah lady from de Middle East was purchasing.

De Market Value based on price recorded at de land registry was $12 per sq. ft. De Seller was asking foh $20 per sq.

ft. My Middle –Eastern client agreed. She told me dat in her country, dey doh sell land, lands are passed on from generation to generation; when yuh own ah piece of land you own de country; if you sell it yuh literally sell your birth-right and dat of future generations.

Today, 15 years after dat visit, Cane Garden lands are going for $40 ah sq.

ft. I know de Ras Shaka’s land, it is flat lands, bounded wid de road to de hotel, both pipeborne and river water, electricity and telephone. I know what it means to him as well as to any developer wanting to expand. Dey’s an ole rule dat says: “ah Fair Market Value is the price at which the property would change hands between a willing buyer and a willing seller,” My hope is dat de Go-venom-mint will stay out and let de man get ah decent price foh his Birth-right and dat of his children-children. LEST I FORGET Before ah forget let me Big-Up Justice Brian Cottle foh handing down ah 30-year pre-retirement “life sentence” pon ah 43-year-ole assistant pastor, for raping a female member of his congregation three times when she was between age 5 and 7. That poor lickle girl, we pray that God will bless her and deliver her from de likely traumatic devastation that follows such ah horrible experience; and that she continues to receive de much needed Love, Care and Counselling. Thank you Bro Cottle… oops, “Your Worship!”

Before ah forget again, ley me also Big-Up Mrs. Harriette Da Silva, my former Spanish Teacher at de Venezuelan Institute, who tried her very best (without much success) teaching me conversational Spanish, “entendre hablo Espanol.” She now has ah Doctorate in Education. Ah onedah- full, committed, and in my case, patient Teacher. Las Congratulaciones Senora/Professora/ Doctora Da Silva.

On an outstanding achievement like dis, ole people would say: “Finally Harriette put handle to she name!”

And wid dat is gone ah gone again.

One Love Bassy

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