We back to square one

Chico Ellis, my friend and surveying colleague, reminds me dat Joseph Stalin, known as de ‘brutal party bully’ of de Soviet Union once wrote: “De people who cast de vote decide nothing, de people who count de votes decide everything.” In creole and Vincy/Caribbean pull-it-tek-all lingo, dat is like saying dem people wuking by de polling stations could teef de elect-shuns. No wonder every Elect-shun in SVG, justifiable or not, de loser does cry fowl!{{more}} Ah don’t have all de information surrounding de controversial elect-shun results in de Central Leeward Constituency, but NDP is claiming, dat based on their Count, dey have won de seat by six votes. Right now as ah writing dis article, I am bombarded wid photos of an angry crowd ah NDP supporters outside de Layou Police Station chanting: “We want Justice!” Also ah ah VDO wid Arm-in sorry, PM Eustace and former Deputy PM of de ULP in de crowd coming close to exchanging blows.

In SVG, win or lose, both pull-it-to-kill sides are known foh not accepting Elect-shun results especially dem kind ah narrow marginal victories. Remember after de 1998, ULP did lose 7 to 8 foh NDP, first dey claim victory, saying dey command de popular votes, but dat claim was un-con-stay-choose-shun-all; so dey resorted to ah back-up plan, to mek de Country un-go-venom-able, first dey block up de road and den de country was shut down. Elect-shuns followed and ULP took de rains of Go-venom-mint. Ralph is totally aware of de creole parable: “Way go round, will one day come back round meet yuh” and de song by Kaisonian Scakes “Wretch-yuh-brute-shun coming.”

Dis whole mess started after dissolution ah Par-liar-mint ah month ago, way de ULP held office wid de narrowest of margins, 8 seats to 7 seats. It was ah whole month of one ah de most corrupt, character ah-saucey-nay-shun, scandal-us Yes! Yes! phone-sex-tapes Elect-shun Calm-Pain. De first round Count dat was announced is showing ULP still holding on to dat narrowest of margins 8 seats to 7 seats. In other words: “We back to square one!” Lie-Za worked at ah Polling stay-shun and she say dat after de first Count, ah second count is made, sometimes ah third and fourth Count before any official announcement is made by de Supervisor of Elect-shun. So we await de rechecking and den de official announcement or declaration by de Govenor General. De voting is over, de Electoral Officer has her wuk cut out and she will execute accordingly, bearing in mind dis could reach de Privy Council! But in de meantime, let us get on wid de business ah de country.

Last week ah mek me usual Elect-shun pre-dick-shun and say 9-6 either way; ah expanded by saying NDP is likely to hold de 7 seats dey now have and pick-up ah possible two and we could see ah change ah Government. Ah was hearing all other people’s pre-dick-shun from 12-3 to 11-4, to 10-5 but ah stuck and loss wid me 9-6 in fair-foh de NDP. Both sides should be disappointed. ULP spent 13 million dollars in cement, lumber, galvanize, dey share out money, fertilizer, pig in ah bag. But all dat did, was to enable dem to maintain dey 8 seats dey had. On de other hand NDP, wid lickle financing, did well in spite ah all de odds, de squandering of 13 million Taxpayers dollar on materials by ULP, de alleged illegal voters registray-shun, dey managed to hold on to dey seats as well, with small reductions in de totals.

But dey were some good signs of de future foh politics in SVG, de first-timers or new-comers on both sides. ULP’s Carlos James, Jomo whom ah didn’t give de slightest chance running in South Leeward, away from his home-base Murray Village. Den Debbie Charles, Jimmy Prince and Calm-mellow an outsider complete stranger in de Constituency, blasted ah disappointing Linton Lewis all over de boundary. NDP’s Noel did well, so did Sharer from whom ah expected more. Dr Ferdinand was undoubtedly one ah de better first-timers, he should do better next time around.

One female NDP supporter fron Central Leeward called in on Tuesday punning on Ben Exeter, saying she going to vote early on Wednesday, den go home to Cook some Uncle Ben Rice and Exeter Corned Beef. Early count showed dat Sir Louis Stray-car has too much Ben Rice and Exeter Beef foh dinner, it was too greasy, vomit up every bit and made ah mess in Layou. And wid dat, is gone ah gone again.

One Love Bassy

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