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Our Readers' Opinions
October 7, 2011

The Banana Crisis – the lies, the bad and the good!

Fri, Oct 7. 2011

Editor: The present banana crisis, caused by shared negligence, disregard for the poor and voting herds and the low priority given to banana farmers and the poor in general by government, continues to bring out the ‘best’ in us.{{more}}

Editor, the fascinating part of this entire episode is the lies. The lies are transparent! The bad is good, and the good to come out of it is excellent! Just great!

The lies! It is indeed a huge lie to suggest that any public officer tried to sabotage! The issue is one of priority. Millions from the sale of the NCB and the other property of the bank went to the airport. Millions went to referendum – millions go towards all the representatives who lost their seats . Why are they priority? They are important in winning elections and keeping power! Not bananas! Shamefacedly, politicians blame public servants because they know that the public servants can’t respond! Good thing, though, sections of the print media are drilling holes in their lies, fabrication and deceptions! Thank you, Searchlight and The News!!!

Why are bananas and/farmers not a priority! You may then ask why? Answer – farmers and bananas not important – government has already secured their votes. Therefore, they have no real value until 2014/2015, and by then government would secure enough galvanise and lumber to purchase that vote again!

What’s bad in all of this is not just that bananas and farmers are under pressure! The domino effect could be increased crime, increased theft, slow down in trading generally, and, critically, an increase in the absence rate of students from rural schools, which can affect the teaching/ learning situation. Imagine a banana and plantain farmer with no other source of income having to support two children at school. Even if he is paid compensation of $400/$500 per acre, he will really struggle! That’s bad, but that’s also good!

This government is adored, glorified, praised, and worshiped more than how God is worshipped and loved! And what does it manifest? It suspends public servants and workers on half pay for doing their jobs well and what’s right, while those who steal and are involved in corruption are given full pay and promotion! It supports throwing the people’s representatives out of parliament. It says yes to criminals in the police force. It glorifies its top wigs who issue threats publicly. It wastes monies taking passengers/or tourists on trips with scarce government funds to Cuba, Europe, Asia and Africa. It pays retirees, big shots, and cronies all sorts of hefty packages and perks, while the nation is ‘brokes’, or so we are told. It leaves potholes in every main road, and feeder roads are impassible! It promised the farmers forthnightly payments for Tomas, and gave them one payment for elections, and another one in April, then blamed the April floods for inability to pay! Yet, the people, especially in the banana belt, worshipped, adored and glorified our prime minister and representative. Now the idols they worship and praise have failed them miserably! Yes! Blame Daniel, but ultimately, it is the Minister of Finance, and PM, who has failed the farmers. Yes! The new ‘real’ god in SVG has failed miserably! That is good! Why?

The failure of idols and tin gods will lead us to depend on the True and Living God! Why? Even if bananas go under, or the crisis persist, God will take care of us! He will provide for the farmers and their families, especially those who know Him personally! They will smile at the crisis! Then they will understand that we must have no other gods, but Jehovah! Love our politicians, greet them, clap them, pray for them, but do not reach the stage where we worship them to the point where we call all their wrongs right!

I know that these are end times, but this is gross negligence by those the people presently worship, which God has allowed for us to reflect, come to ourselves and return to him!

As bad as the situation appears to be, God is the greatest beneficiary. He will provide for His people and we will, hopefully, learn that relying on politicians (yellow or red) is like relying on broken sticks and standing on feet out of joints! In this crisis, men will use talk show listening time, and peddling of political mischief, and man worshipping to be drawn closer to God to get their daily bread, thus this crisis is really a good thing! A real blessing in disguise!

Otto Sam

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