Dis country got ah jinx

Wid all dem things happening or failing to happen in Vincy Land, ah went searching to see if ah could put me finger directly pon de problem. Finally ah read ah story ‘bout ah fellar dat did name “Mr. Jinx!” Yuh couldn’t find ah more lovable guy, love he-self so much dat he loved to see he-self featuring in everything. But de thing about Mr. Jinx is dat he possessed ah Curse, he had way yuh call ah Blight pon him, dat no matter how good ah thing going, once Mr. Jinx get in, is Bad Luck and everything will tun Ole Ms!{{more}}

Yuh won’t believe but is long time Lie-Za keep saying “Love Vine, Mr. Jinx rains supreme in Arwe land! Nothing is happening in we country. How can ah country export fifty million dollars worth ah goods, and during dah same 6 months period, import five hundred million dollars worth ah goods, ten times as much. De country suffering from ah disease called Jinx-is-him.” She reminds me dat when de ULP took office, dey made ah big noise about Our-root Starch and Cassava Fareeen. De Owia factory was modernized wid solar drying facilities. Everything was going fine, till when de starch was to be processed at de factory, Mr Jinks showed up, and de first crop was ah disaster. Mr Jinx took ah break to deal wid something else, Bananas maybe. So Our-root start ah grow again, dis year we produced forty thousand pounds ah Our-root Starch worth ah half ah millions dollars. Would yuh believe dat our shipment of 26, 000 pounds of Our-root, worth over ah quarter million US dollars, left from SVG to de USA in good condition, and on arrival dat shipment was found contaminated wid Salmonella, ah dread Bacteria dat causes food poisoning. Mr Jinx must have hid himself in de starch. We lose de shipment, we lose half ah de money dat was paid, dat we will obviously have to pay back to de purchaser, and we have to pay five thousand US to dump de whole shipment.

Everybody keep asking foh de true date of completion of de Argyle Airport, after all, is over five years now since Cruise tour-is-him Beach announced dat Airlines waiting to fly into Argyle. Foh lack ah cash, not even de experts in Airport construction seem able to give with certainty, ah correct date. So ah team of Elect-shun strategist visited de site, and fixed yet another date foh completion or was de word “readiness.” Lie-Za is Cat-lick, she has promised to say dat after she say de Rosary, in her Doxology she will replace de word “World” wid “de Argyle Airport “ and say: “As it was in de beginning, is now and ever shall be, (no world) de Argyle Airport widout end, Amen!” Prayer widout act-shun will not wuk, get rid ah Mr Jinks.

It is clear to Farmers dat instead ah saying Bananas we should say Jinxanas, is years ago since Mr. Jinx tek dat over in full. No Operation Cut Back! No Operation Plant Back could stop Mr Jinx who, sent back Van Geest and invited de Black Sick-ah-took-her to remain! We have no Bananas now and will have no Bananas foh ah long while.

From Bananas we go to Cocoa. What can we say except dat “way gone bad ah morning, can’t come good ah evening.” Alma-Jah-Owe came, he looked, he bumped into Mr Jinx, got de message and he left! Much is being said about de writing-off of ah thirty-four thousand loan dat Alma-Jah-owe made to de Farmers. Dat $ 34,000. 00 was foh de 250 acres in cultivation. Dat worked out to be $ 136.00 per acre, which is $ 46.00 ah year, or less dan ah dollar ah week. Dat was disaster before it started. It is now left to de few Cocoa Farmers and COPCO to save Cocoa. But remember keep Mr Jinx out ah de Cocoa.

Ah ain’t touch Corruption or Crime because ah trying to figure out which is more powerful. Is it de Jinx dat causing de Crime and Corrupt-shun or de Jinx dat preventing act-shun dat will curb, control and correct these two demons. It will tek at least two more articles to expose Mr Jinx, way-ever or whoever s/he is. What is evident is dat Mr Jinx is in charge ah de country big time, he is bad news and bad medicine, we will never go forward until we rid ourselves of de Curse, de Blight de Badluck name Mr. Jinx.

Lie-Za say dat Mr Jinx followed Patel Matthews when he went foh his Visa at de US Embassy in Bo-bid-us. She say if Patel had put on ah ordinary “Yam Digger” outfit and use ah regular Vin-sin-shun Passport he would ah get thru to travel to New York foh de Town Hall Meeting. But he waltz into de US Embassy dressed up like ah Deputy Consul General, looking like ah Deputy Consul General and flashing Diplomatic Par-sport like ah Consul General. She say dat from de time de computer recognized it was ah “St Vincent and the Grenadines Diplomatic Par-sport” ah whole set ah Red lights start ah flash, den ah See-Eye-Air figure appeared, and ah voice announced: “ Entry denied, checking for Mr Jinx!” And wid dat, is gone ah gone again

One Love Bassy

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