Use de bar to raise de bar

Congratulations are in order foh de eight young people who were called to de Bar earlier dis week. Ah Law Degree, or any degree foh dat matter, is not pea-nut change, never was. De journey begins wid de LLB, de Bachelors (first) Degree and dat cost as much as ah piece ah land wid ah house. De successful graduate den completes de Bar requirement in T’n’T, Jah-mek-her or de UK and dat is another piece ah land and ah house. So is nuff respect to those proud parents who had to finance dey children’s Education. Tuition paid, now Bank loans to be repaid. Dem student loans is serious business. No doubt, some parents still struggling to pay-off de house mortgage, are back into mortgage, and nervously facing dat serious challenge of losing dey homes, if those student loans are not repaid. So I’m appealing to de newly crowned Barristers, to do de honourable thing, pay off yuh student loans and free-up de family home.{{more}}

Dey say if yuh can’t praise all, den don’t start, but ah must big-up two boastful ole fellars, who would ah been first to be at de Court House on Monday, just fancy dem, all decked in three piece suits to identify wid dey grandsons. I speak of Jericho John of Gomea and Great-grand-dad, Dadda Hughes O’garro (Quadrille Dancer) of Rose Hall, hard-wuking dignified farmers. Nuff respect to de Go-venom-mint foh meeting de Eco-nah-mek costs (approximately one-third ah de cost) foh ah number of these programs.

Lie-Za overheard me lamenting: “eight new young Lawyers on de Block and no Police among dem.” She rebuked me, singling out John Ballah, ah former Police Officer who will now be attached to de office of de DPP. Dey’s still an imbalance on de Justice system; seven potential defence Lawyers to one potential Prosecutor. No wonder so many cases are lost in de Courts. Our disadvantaged policeman, minus de few bad eggs, are doing ah magnificent job foh which dey get lickle or no public appreciation. When things go wrong everybody on de Policemen backs, and when dey crack some difficult cases nobody recognizes dem.

While ah dey pon de subject, congrats to Shernell Hadaway, daughter of Hazel-Anne Hadaway de wife of de Co-mission-her. Good job Mom; every time ah child succeeds, Mothers get lickle men-shun, everything is bout dad.

Now Lie-Za gave me ah message foh Co-mission-her Had-ah-way. His focus should now be to leave us ah Leg-ah-sea “Use de Bar to raise de Bar.” Secure full University Scholarships foh those Police Officers who intend to be career Policemen. She will be de happiest woman if in every department, every District Station, at de head is an officer, ah professional trained in de Law, to at least Bachelor’s level. So Mr Co-mission-her when yuh time is up, and yuh say: “I did it my way,” we will join yuh and say ” thanks yuh Had-ah-way!”

MERCY ON OUR MEDICAL STUDENTS

One step forward three steps backwards. That’s who we are. Fifteen years ago we had ah campus of de St Georges Medical College right hey at Ratho Mill. It was termed medical tourism and de spin off was great: citizens benefitted from house and car rentals, supermarkets and restaurants, mini vans all got ah slice ah de cake. In addition to de Medical Faculty, proposals foh expansion included a Business Faculty foh 1,300 students, that would ah brought another sixty million dollars to de country. We all know de story, is like de criminals declared war against de Medical Students, breaking dey homes, robbing dem and giving dem “Donald Trump Lock-her RoomTalk,” Rape! In 2001 when ULP took office, de nation had expectations foh ah reversal in criminal activities, because de PM had said dat de ULP had de solution to crime in SVG. But de incidences of crime increased, students’ lives were endangered and de School pack-up and move to Grenada. I am hearing dat de economy of Grenada is now better by 200 million dollars as ah result of de Medical College.

Ah say dat lickle bit to remind us dat we now have four Medical Schools back in SVG. We have among us ah lot of African brothers and sisters as students, but dat does not change de price of eggs, already our Criminals are on de attack, robbing de students in high daylight. Ah begging my friend de Co-mission-her to step up de police security foh our Students. If even it means cutting down de forty strong police security dat surrounds de Prime Minister. Let’s Save de Students, Save de Medical Schools and save de Economy of SVG.

OUR LANDS ARE NOT FOH SALE

Big con-friends going on dis week bout Garifuna and Chatoyer and national pride. My national pride is hurt when ah overs what Paramount Chief Joseph Chatoyer died for. Chatoyer saw de NME foh exactly what dey were worth- exploiters under de guise of Investors. He wanted dem out, he stood up to dem; he did not call his warriors to form ah human shield around him; He fought dem physically and was murdered. Let us keep every square foot of our land foh our unborn generation. In time we will mature and put our lands to de best use. And wid dat is gone ah gone again.

One Love Bassy

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