Best Week Ever

Paige Cadogan, Rishona James, Donya Lucas, Jonoliah John, Davon Ellis, Najhalia Matthews, Danielson Ferguson, Nasya Robin, Donte Sam and Jeshari Munroe were the media celebrities, with newspaper profiles and TV appearances, but it was the Best Week Ever for all of the 1,474 students who passed this year’s CPEA exam.

Months of tension and hard work by parents, teachers and students have given way to joy and sweet relief, as children can be children again for their final vacation before they become secondary school students.{{more}}

Although almost 20 per cent of the students didn’t make the grade, it’s also good to know that post-“Education Revolution” SVG has a place for them in secondary school too. Not so long ago, only 713 of the children who sat the exam would be moving on to Secondary School – the previous government’s 39 per cent average.

Today, a full 1,829 kids will have the chance to start secondary school come next year. No matter which side of the political fence you may be on, that is a good thing.

Runner-up:

Fried Chicken connoisseurs rejoice! It’s official: The briefly-shuttered KFC franchise is reopening its doors in SVG, this time under the supervision of Kelly and Tessa Glass – the names behind the Blue Lagoon Hotel and the family-owned Karib Cable, which was sold to FLOW.

KFC’s brief hiatus allowed the franchise to move from Ken Boyea to the Glasses and hopefully will signal a return to form for what was once considered the best KFC chicken experience in the Caribbean. TWTW also hopes that it will be a good week for the KFC workers who were laid off when the franchise was yanked from Boyea. If there’s any justice in the world, they’ll be first in line to get their jobs back, since they had nothing to do with the corporate shenanigans that put them on the bread line.

WORST WEEK EVER:

The facts aren’t clear yet, but it’s safe to say that a bullet in the chest qualifies you as having a bad week.

To hear James Adolphus Gould tell it, he was basically minding his own business when the police shot him in Belair. The investigations may reveal something different, but if Gould is telling the truth about the police officers’ bloodthirsty encouragements to “kill the man,” then there is serious work to be done about the rules of engagement and training given to police officers. Without training, they’re just another gang of armed young men and women. Bad apples always spoil the bunch.

Best of health to Mr Gould, and hopefully a speedy investigation from the COP.

Runner-up:

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Poor Audrey Gittens-Gilkes. She must be wondering who changed the rules on her. The Permanent Secretary in the Ministry of National Mobilization is a card-carrying and enthusiastic supporter of the governing ULP. She has an executive position in the party. She hosts radio programmes on the ULP-owned radio station. She speaks on the platform at ULP events, like the recent Women’s Convention. Now, all of a sudden, she shows up as part of a ULP team to meet with the Supervisor of Elections, and there is a media firestorm? Worse, the Prime Minister, who’s sat on political platforms where the PS spoke, is calling her actions “inappropriate” and “wrong”?

From where we sit, the line between acceptable and inappropriate seems a little fuzzy. Gittens-Gilkes, and the public, could probably do with some clarity.

If I had a question in SVG Parliament

… I’d ask the Leader of the Opposition to formally condemn the actions of NDP supporters who defaced one of the Ecuadorian-built bridges on the eve of the opening ceremony. The display by those supporters in front of our guests was an embarrassment to the nation and the NDP. TWTW doesn’t believe for one second that anyone in the NDP hierarchy coordinated the vandalism, but their silence to date speaks volumes.

Media Watch!

Do national newspapers exist to engage in commess-control? In this day and age, is an HIV+ diagnosis worthy of a newspaper article? If you answered “no” to either of those questions, then you’ll agree that it’s time to retire the time-honoured journalistic tradition of long newspaper articles with headlines that say “So and So Denies that He/She is HIV+, Provides Test Results as Proof.” What other type of village gossip gets this type of coverage? If there is a rumour about someone else’s HIV status, and that person declines to provide their test results for national scrutiny, does that mean that the person has AIDS? It is neither titillating nor enlightening.

Stop it!