De mills of God grind slowly

Ex-commissioner of Police Two-cent’s victory in his drawn out Court Case is yet another blow to de head ah de ULP, as well as ah victory foh Justice in our land. Justice foh Two-cent was long in coming, but it is sweet! Back in 1990, NDP was in office and Two-cent bought from Devco, 12,957 sq. ft. of lands in Can-One at 50 cents per sq. ft., cheap but dat was market value den. De area was virgin and undeveloped at de time of sale. Soon after, de hotel development started. Two-cent’s purchase included ah ‘sale agreement’ restriction with regard to developing de lands — permission from de vendor to sell, planning approval was required foh any structures etc.” {{more}}

By 1996 Two-cent, who was Mitchell’s right hand man and buddy, got Devco to release him from de Sale Agreement. Six years after, in 2002, de ULP was in office when Two-cent tried to sell his lands at $20.00 per sq. ft. De Pry-minister, Gone-soft mashed de brakes and tried another of his “master strokes!” In an extraordinary issue of the Gazette, Go-venom-mint gave notice of a Compulsory Acquisition (to tek away) Two-cent land foh public purpose, ah Learning Resource Centre. And when Par-liar-mint met foh budget session, de PM had ah field day in de House, he described de original (50 cents per sq. ft) sale as an “Injustice” and or ah “Scandal” which required Par-liar-mint to correct it. Some real Dick-take-ah-ship language, but when Two-cent Lawyer presented those very comments as de basis of his Case; de AG applied and got an order, to strike out “certain paragraphs” of de PM’s statement in Par-liar-mint. It’s called Par-liar-mint Privilege. Both Justice Blenman and de Court of Appeal ruled in favour ah de AG’s application! But de Privy Council later over ruled all ah dem: de AG, de Chief Justice and de Court of Appeal, stating wid words to de effect dat Go-venom-mint was overstepping, dey teking over de responsibility of de Judiciary. Way would we be widout ah Justice System, Lard deliver Daniel!

Some people think dat God doesn’t put on Pee-jam-us and go sleep when night comes. Thank God foh de Privy Council…again! Month before was Sir James, dis month is Two-cent!

Dat Privy Council ruling gave Two-cent Lawyers road to walk. Finally, earlier dis month, Acting High Court Judge Pearletta Lanns, ah love dat strong Lady, she ordered dat de Attorney General (Go-venom-mint) pay Toussaint EC$361,779.30 foh his lands, plus interest at the rate of 6 per cent per annum from Dec. 5, 2002; plus $ 75,000.00 foh aggravated damages. In other words, instead ah de seventy-five cents per sq. ft. dat Go-venom-men’t unilaterally decided to pay de man foh his land in 2002, he will now be paid EC$27.00 (US$10.00) per sq. ft.

Go-venom-men’t not suppose to tek way yuh land and den instruct dey corrupt officers to pay you way de feel like. Market value is what it is, and Marcus De Freitas will get his victory at de Privy Council too. If Bigger Biggs had heeded to his professionals’ add-vice, he too would ah get his justice. How yuh could cripple ah man’s business, demanding ah Lie-sins, and den change yuh tune say he doesn’t need ah Lie-sins. Who will compensate Bigger Biggs foh de destruction of his business?

Dat 1600 quotation from Sextus Empiricus, de Greek philosopher, is like Gospel: “Though the mills of God grind slowly, yet they grind exceeding small; Though with patience stands He waiting, with exactness grinds He all.”

WE NEED MORE STORMS IN SVG

Ah want to big-up Storm Gonsalves, de Pry-minister’s son foh securing a School Bus foh North Leeward. Transportation foh students is ah big problem in SVG. On afternoons, along Murray Road, from de Mahogany Bar up to de Tie-One- Knees Office gap, hundreds ah students are literally stranded, foh hours, waiting foh vans to go home. Storm is just ah student in de UK, he is not paid ah salary to do PR wuk foh SVG, so give him his dues. Nah question his motives. If we must ask questions, ask way we paying dem dignitaries, dip-low-mats, Passport selling Consular General, miss-fits in embassies and missions to do. NDP will be well add-vice to use people like Storm. Troublesome Lie-Za say to tell Storm to look foh ah few more School Buses, and tell him how things not looking good foh his dad, he can’t find Airlines to fly to Argyle, so he must look around foh ah few Planes, even if dey second hand, he could start ah family Airlines business, Air Gonzalis. On ah more serious note, she also says Thanks to Storm foh de School Bus!

WE NAR TUN BACK

Will somebody tell Sir Lou-we Straker dat Sparrow say : “When ah man finish, it will be foolish to play lick-rish!” Way is yuh Loyal-tea Bro Straker. Lie-Za say things got “tight like ah Virgin” foh Gone-soft, and yuh mek he pull yuh away from worshipping yuh God to go satisfy his He-go. Like yuh forget yuh done say “we nar tun back, way yuh going?” Back ah death! However de talk is Girl-in and Bug-in will both be running back. What ah Pull-it-to-kill funeral dat will be. And wid dat, is gone ah gone again.

One Love Bassy

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