We have ah country to build

How eye-run-ache, “Prince Harry plants a tree in de Botanic Gardens.” When Prince Harry hears dat less dan ah week after his visit, dat floods have devastated de country, he will take pride and consolation dat by planting dat tree, he could have set de pace foh a Tree Planting calm-pain hey in SVG, an impetus in our much needed effort to combat Climate Change. Never mind all de prince did was to M-T- one shovel of sand in a hole done dig.{{more}} If those who did organ-noise de planting ceremony were serious, dey would ah carry de prince up in de mountain, where our verse-at-toil Farmers and coal miners burning down de forests, felling trees, leaving de logs lying on de ground, wid de surface exposed to de elements of de weather, de wind and de rain, de main recipe foh flooding, way river change course wiping out crops, destroying roads, bridges and coastal villages taking innocent lives in its deadly tracks.

My question dis week to every reader is “when last yuh planted ah tree?” Or to be more specific, “have yuh ever planted a tree since yuh born?” We are told dat de felling of trees and burning of coals in de mountain, anywhere foh dat matter, have been identified as multi-vitamins foh nurturing Climate Change. Just last week de PM and a team of experts in Climate Change returned from one ah those con-friends held in Morocca, Ah overs dat country is ah beautiful place foh ah nice holiday trip. Lie-Za wid she troublesome self say she was shocked to hear deli-gear-shun went to Climate Change Con-friends and none ah de local experts, whose daily task is about combating de effects of Climate Change was left home. Ms Forbes de new head at NEMO who doing ah one-dah-full job was not dey! Neither was Fitz Gerald Providence de Chief Forestry Officer; Mr Forest himself, Cornie Richards nor Joel Poyer de real people whose daily work surrounds Climate Change! Garth Saunders, Engineer and Manager of CWSA was not dey either! Ah told her people like Garth don’t go joy-riding, Garth’s job is to restore water supply to homes destroyed as ah result of land-slides and floods, effects of Climate Change!

We must overs dat in SVG, Climate Change is real talk shop. Ah pull-it-tek-all plane rider goes to ah con-friends, returns, reports. No act-shun. When de rains come and wash way bridges, homes and roads, ah minister visits de scene, reports on his findings and comes up right dey on de spot wid de solution and reports to de nation: “Ah bridge washed away so we will have to replace it soon, de road is blocked along de highway, BRAGSA is already on de scene wid some heavy equipment clearing it! A house was washed away, de folks are in ah shelter, guess we will have to get NEMO on dat!”

Does anyone care about de source ah de problem? Joel Poyer, a Forestry Officer who is being victim-eyes, was on TV last night giving an assessment of de recent flooding and de root causes. Basically it was an identical repeat of an assessment he presented soon after the December 2013 flooding, dat devastated de country. Back den, Poyer was warning us dat ah greater disaster was yet to come. He based his assessment on his visit to de mountain-side, de Forest Reserves above the Sandy Bay/Rabbacca. Poyer had seen numbers of fallen trees, logs aand debris, maliciously cut foh either burning coals or planting whatever crops, left on the ground waiting like a time-bomb, for de next big Trough to be washed into de rivers, to divert and/or block de free flow of water. He predicted when this all happened it will cause havoc in de villages along its path and along de coasts. Dis week is almost three years after Poyer made dat frightening forecast, and it all has come to pass. Dis is ah Nah-shun-all problem, and maybe we could start by getting every Vincent-shun to plant ah tree, and anyone who cuts down ah tree widout de approval of de Forestry Division, should be prosecuted and fined.

IS ULP GOOD FRIDAY NEAR??

De Trough and all its damages have robbed Dr Friday of his kudos as he climbed into de Presidency of de NDP and Leader ah de Awe-position. Lie-Za likes Dr Friday. She say dat I must tell ULP dat Good Friday is crucifixion time. Friday has a formidable team dat has balance. Daniel Cummings ah proven success as ah Public Administrator and an engineer wid ah vested interest in Climate Change. Seeing-clear Leacock in security and administration as well; Ferdinand in Business; Linton Lewis in Legal-accuracy; ah cadre of energetic and enthusiastic young people, decent people: Zite, Bruce, Exeter; Nature, Bowman, Patel, Matthews, patriot Colin G. Dey’s my down-to-earth lady friend who is not ready to be launched. Did I men-shun Arm-in Eustace de political Sage? Lie Za say let Arm-in restore his soul, he still has ah great contribution to mek. But our immediate problem is riding thru de floods. We need all hands on deck. And wid dat is gone ah gone again.

One Love Bassy

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