October 10, 2014

Ah lie-sins to berry

Three and ah half years ago de Go-venom-mint thru de Planning Department, revoked de Lie-sins of Bigger Trucking and Blocks Construction Company. Ah Lie-sins dat permitted him to mine aggregate, crush stone and sand from Rabacca. De reason foh closing down de operations was dat he was basically violating de rules governing de Environmental Management Plan, things like oil spill, mining below depths of 12 feet, mining outside his boundaries and too close to de Lady Jane River bank; and blocking a public road.{{more}} Ah lot ah people felt at de time dat de decision to close down de mans business was pre-macho and spite-wuk. If he breaking de rules or de law, stop him yes, reprimand him, mek him clean up his act within a certain time frame, then dey would revisit de site foh inspect-shun before approval to continue. But nah shut him down wid sixty wukers. De problem is dey could not have gone de above route because de charges fell into two cat-ah-carry, ‘made up’ and ‘false’, plain and simple allegations.

Ah remember shortly after de closure, visiting de site wid de owner of de company, Leon “Bigger Bigs” Samuel to give ah professional opinion wid de boundaries and de road. But dey was ah pull-it-to-kill slant to de issue. Only months before, during de 2010 Elect-shun Calm Pain, Bigger Bigs had not only supported de NDP, but de talk was dat Bigger Bigs, jokingly or not, had said dat when NDP wins de Elect-shun, dey were going to discontinue wuk on de Argyle Airport, and he, Bigger Bigs was taking over all de heavy equipment at de Argyle Airport. So re-vacate-shun of his Lie-sins was de death blow Crappoo got foh chool pick-me joke!

What was pathetic at de time was dat ah lot ah people, well wishers, social commentators, talk show hosts, pull-it-to-kill vampires, spin doctors, all had much to say, but de majority ah dem never set foot on de site.

According to Bigger’s Survey Plan, de aerial photographs and other records at de Surveys Department, it appeared dat de estate road to lands beyond Bigger Bigs’, traversed around his property and did not go thru it, dat de Farmers were using an alternative route thru Bigger’s lands. I saw copies of receipts, where de previous owner of de property (ah forget de lady’s name) was paid rent by Go-venom-mint for de use of de same access thru Bigger lands. Go-venom-mint never acquired dat road foh public use. I saw no dug-outs twelve feet deep; saw no visible signs of any oil spill as de letter had suggested; de matter of mining beyond his boundary was ridiculous, de machines were over one hundred feet from either of de two river banks, dat both his Title Deed stated and Survey Plan showed as his boundaries. But interestingly BRAGGSTA was mining sand at Rabacca and another far-reign private company was mining inside Rabacca, but dey were not stopped.

On my visit dat day, word got around dat we were on de site, and within minutes a number of vehicles driven by farmers in de area, drove up and blocked de entrance, using threatening language. We phoned de Police at Georgetown foh assistance but de guys had removed dey vehicles before de Police arrived. Bigger Bigs was earlier beaten by people trespassing on his land.

JENNY FLEX

In SVG, de Bigger Bigs struggle has been debated in every Newspaper, on every Radio Station, every talk show, TV, on de Vans every-way including Par-liar-mint. Yet de Go-venom-mint refused to budge. People called pon de Christian Council, not ah word from dem. In SVG it appears dat Clergymen do ah daily exercise called “Jenny Flex” to de power dat be. But not all ah dem are like dat. Dey’s still Fr Ulric Jones, Bishop Friday and Roman Cat-lick Bishop, Jason Gordon. Bishop Gordon decided dat enough is enough, and at ah Retreat he consulted wid senior Parishioners, dey took guidance from Jeremiah and Ezekiel, two prophets of old; and in ah circular letter, he challenged de membership of his Church to speak out against de injustices handed out to our fellowmen, special men-shun was made of de Bigger Bigs situation.

De PM who is always quick to ink, responded to de Bishop’s letter, and by strange coincidence he took ill….again. He claims he’s feeling better, very good, but will somebody be brave enough to tell de PM, whenever he is recovering, he must give “Thanks and Praise” publicly to God, and stop get carried-away, making MT and non productive boasts about his health. His predecessor Sir James, an older I-man, is proving daily dat he is more I-an man dan Ralph is.

Lie-Za thinks dat fear of de Lord which is wisdom, is what mek de PM give back Bigger Bigs his Lie-Sins! Dis has to be ah Joke, and dey got to be ah catch behind dis. Why did dey terminate de man’s Lie-sins in de first place? Way happen to all those charges? False of course!

Trust me, dey will look stupid and spiteful as dis Bigger Bigs matter has turned out to have been an exercise in wickedness, spite and pull-it-to-kill victim-I-say-shun! Lie-Ze say dis new Lie-Sins is to berry de business. And wid dat is gone ah gone again.

One Love Bassy

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