Time foh LIME… and… Flow to go

Forty-four years ago ah got my first telephone from Kay-blue Why-less de provider den, and now. When ah got my first phone bill, dey was ah $10.00 charge foh rental of de phone or receiver. After ah few years ah got ah friend living overseas to send me ah new phone, since den ah would have replaced receivers ah few times. But dat did not stop de $10.00 rental on de bill, so foh de last 528 months ah would have paid de company $5,280.00 foh ah phone dat ah bought and replaced several times.{{more}}

Wid all dis merger talk, just out ah curiosity, ah decided to go thru my January bill to see way ah could look foh any customer benefit. Still at de top is my old phone rental listed under “Rental & Service Charges, now $54.40. Ah similar thing holds foh de Internet service. Initially, ah was told dat de Box was $120.00 but ah could have it paid thru my monthly bill; dat item under Digital Service, is listed as Rentals and Service Charges $112.17. Ah done pay nearly ah thousand dollars foh dat $120.00 Box.

Ah didn’t waste my time to attend de big Lime will Flow “Merger Consultation” last Monday. Lie-Za who is capable of representing dis country went, and she said she saw one Chris Derring as ah presenter. She asking me if he is not de same Chris Derring who did promise so much from de disappointing Cricket World Cup dat was held in dis region? Ah tell her Chris is so good, he could sell snow to de Eskimos. But she concludes dat de consult-hey-shun was just ah matter ah formality foh Lime to Flow and cover dey tracks to say, dey met and held fruit-full discuss-shun wid ah broad cross section of de Vin-scent-shun society. Imagine at Monday’s session, de managing Director of de Eastern Caribbean Telecommunication Authority (ECTEL), openly acknowledged dat way de merger is concerned, de regulatory body got no power to say yeh or nay. Ah suppose dat includes our Pry-minister’s very positive suggest-shun dat such ah merger must include shares being offered to de general public. On ah point of order, Lie-Za said de foks in St-Kitts told her dat dey expecting ah visit from de PM of SVG.

She is adamant dat dis Lime to Flow proposed merger is ah “money-pulley,” she can’t spell monopoly eh, but she say it smacks of disaster foh de region, and one way or de other, it should be blocked. She pre-dick dat soon after de merger is sealed, hundreds ah wukers across de Caribbean will be out ah wuk. And foh those of us who come-plain bout de service presently, hold all yuh breath, de wuss is yet to come. Dey’ll be less wukers on de wuk, therefore de quality ah de service will tek ah slow dive. Ah did not hear any men-shun about reduced rates, trust me we will eventually pay more foh de service dat will not necessarily improve.

Way yuh ever hear an organ-I-say-shun operating in yuh region and de people who suppose to add-vice de leaders, telling us dey’s nothing anybody can do about what is about to happen. Right now Go-venom-men’t seems bought, hook, line and sinker, de signals emanating is dat if we put up ah fight and block de merger, de rest ah de world will take off and de region will shut down foh-ever. Man, ten years ago, not many people gave Digicel ah chance ah survival when dey first came. Lime was allowed to jam dem hands down. Today, after ten short years, Digicel got Lime scampering foh ah monopoly in order to Flow.

Lime’s last bastion of profit is in de Caribbean. We and not dem should be calling de shots. And Lime has reaped more dan it has planted hey. Show me in SVG any significant monument marked “Lime, be it ah Playing Field, or ah synthetic athletic track, or ah swimming pool, or ah tennis facility, or whatever!”

We should be paying much, much less foh telephone, Internet service and Cable TV services. Man right now in SVG, is over 150,000 cell phones, land line phones and Kay-blue TV connect-shuns dat grossing over two million dollars ah day, and close to ah billion dollars collected ah year. People paying thru dey mouth foh dey mouth. Ah love how I-fan Owe-Neal puts it in his Green Party TV Ad, “It is time foh Lime to Flow, pack up dey bags and go back way dey come from!” Go-venom-men’t should ah done nationalize Lime ah long Time.

But Lie-Za tells me dey’s hope. She says dat since last week Monday, ah new “north- south trade winds, ah new breed ah leadership” is sweeping de Carry Come region, beginning from St Kitts.

And she pestering me, asking me if is true dat things so bad wid de NIS dat it borrowing six million dollars from de National Lotteries. Ah beg she please nah mek nobody hear she say dat, is de Lottery wid fifty million put aside, dat borrowing money from NIS. Lord have mercy. And wid dat is gone ah gone again.

One Love Bassy