By Earle Clarke:
“A bad government cannot only be called a bad government! The real adjective should be this, “ENEMY!” Yes, a bad government is a real enemy of the country it governs – an enemy within. Mehmet Murat Ildan
Dear reader, today, my heart is deeply saddened, for, when I look at the future of my grandchildren, it looks so bleak for the Harbour Lights of Credibility, Integrity, Valour have been blown and are not shining to guide our young men from floundering on the rocks of gang related crimes, vengeful murders committed with guns and armed robberies. Our so-called Christian society is in a singing mode, specializing in the Christmas Carol – “Silent Night!” But Christmas is roughly six months away, yet we are hearing it playing loud and clear in the atmosphere and it is being sung by the Christian Council and the Evangelical Association, with the Chamber of Industry and Commerce, the Bar Association and our so-called decent and respectable elements lending their voices to join in the REFRAIN! I remembered when Dr. Douglas posed the question, “If they say that I am doing all these things, then, I must be ten men in one?” Oh, how that remark was spun, twisted, exaggerated, and stomped upon, out of context?
Oh, how the so-called Christians joined in the fray, barefacedly and unashamed inventing their own dictionary of words to defame the man! Oh, how a certain radio stations made it its topic every day, vehemently defiling and assassinating Dr. Douglas’ reputation? In last week’s edition I mentioned how a certain ex-Minister of National Security and I recorded the happenings of 1967, only for him to return to the airwaves seven years later to refute all that he recorded in 2007. Then there is this sister who professes to be the biggest Christian residing on Planet Earth who claims that she supports no political party, yet mounts the airwaves and always attacking the Labour Party, never once criticizing the unity mirage. This sister is so sanctimonious that she even criticized Dr. Douglas for not being married as the Leader of the country. Every opportunity with which she was presented, she hammered home the point that we needed Leaders who had a family. The unity mirage is now in power; its leader is not married, and, if he were to, what a ruckus that would be in this part of the Planet?
His deputy will cause the same ruckus if he were to become plural. Only one person on that team unity is married, but the sister is mute on the subject. What hypocrisy eh? Dr. Denzil Douglas was born in St. Kitts. He loves his country and decided that whatever monies he earned in the country he would plough it back into the country to help to boost its economy; so he bought some old dilapidated houses, repaired them and rented them. He was severely criticized by some as being corrupt, using his office to project his investment. Mind you, being a man of integrity, he was not personally involved in the transaction of renting his houses as he hired an agent to perform such duties; yet he was vilified by the sister on the airwaves. Today, we have the sister of our Prime Minister who is the Registrar in the High Court, a sister who is a Magistrate in the lower Court, a brother who is in charge of the Development Bank, families who have gone into lucrative businesses since the Prime Minister has entered office and there is a deafening silence by the outstanding Christian sister.
Here was Lindsay Fitzgerald Grant, who was caught on camera performing a treacherous act on the economy of the Federation by conspiring with an individual with whom he was never acquainted to sell our land – the patronage of the people at below market price. What makes the action of our now Minister of Tourism stinks, was that the person with whom he conspired was totally unknown to him – a complete stranger to the man; no checks as to the character of the man, but ready to perform an underhand deal with him. This holier than thou Christian sister mounted the airwaves and condemned Dr. Douglas as the culprit for organizing the meeting between the man and Mr. Grant. Now dear reader, regardless of who set up the meeting, if Mr. Grant was not a corrupt person, he would have walked away from this complete stranger and his underhand deals, pronto, but the deal sounded too sweet for this corrupted soul to ignore totally. He immediately agreed to the deal and even handed this stranger his off-shore bank account number for the monies from the deal to be deposited. You see pon CORRUPT OFFICIALS?
How much more corrupt can an individual become, eh? Is it any surprise to us that our present day Prime Minister on the 19th May when he himself was besieged with an International Scandal and ran to his constituents in Tabernacle for comfort and support, declared at that meeting that not one of them, (referring to his Cabinet Colleagues), can raise a candle up to me to correct me! In essence, what our corrupted Prime Minister, after he became aware of the many emergency meetings being held on small boats sailing between St. Kitts and Nevis, was saying to these Colleagues at that time, was, “BOYS and Girls, ALL, all of us have very HUGE BOULDERS in our eyes, so, not one of you can dare take the boulder out of mine. All of us are a bunch of corrupted souls – none better than the other. If any of you ever grasp the idea that you can overthrow me, I will expose your dossier to the general public. If I go, all of you will be going with me!” And, what hurts, is that not one of our Church leaders blew his or her whistle? Not one referee from the Chamber of industry and commerce, cried Foul? No assistant referee from the Bar Association raised his/her flag to indicate that there was a dangerous infringement of the Laws of the game.
This is so for the simple reason that the HARBOUR LIGHTS of MORALITY in the Federation have been blown and there seems to be no bulbs of replacement available just now. What a DAMNING UTTERANCE from a leader of a country and there is NO OUTCRY, NO CONDEMNATION from the MORAL CONSCIENCE of the Society. What have become of all those who CONDEMNED Dr. Douglas? Where are our PRAYER WARRIORS, have they gone on a cruise? If so, please return to the Federation immediately for the NATION needs your payers urgently! You see pon HYPOCRISY? You see pon DISINGENUOUSNESS (not sincere, deceitfulness)? You see pon NON EXISTENT VALOUR (courage, bravery)? You see pon DISCREDITABLE BEHAVIOUR? In this Hurricane Season, those of us who love our country and wish it well regardless of who governs it will have to pray sincerely and earnestly, that it be spared. We, unlike the prayer warriors, must never descend to the depths of depravity and pray nor even wish that any natural disaster befall it. Love for or country is not seasonal. It is a year round thing. We are totally different!
We, who handed over the country to our present Prime Minister despite the evil things we heard him say about it are just as guilty as him in the International Scandal in which he is deeply immersed (dip, sink) It is we who ignored all the telling signals and placed him in that position. Now, I have oft times repeated that we should have realized that the man was only interested in becoming Prime Minister for Prime Minister’s sake. He cared not a damn (no apologies) to any people or country. It was solely about him and, was he to get into power; he would ensure that all of his family will be compensated for the poverty they suffered when they were growing up. The Country and the people must compensate them for their days of poverty. But. Didn’t the vast majority of us suffer the same fate? That was the way of life in those days. What makes his family more important and worthy to receive compensation when we are disqualified? Granny used to say, “Love so, no have so. What is good for the goose is also good for the gander.” Those who should be compensating us, have our PM in their employ! So he is making us pay when, in truth and in fact, his handlers are the ones who should be compensating us.
Dear reader, there are some people who will sell their reputation, their souls, their integrity, their Principles on the ALTAR of Convenience. Here you have Peter Wickham, a Pollster (one who predicts the outcome of elections using scientific means) selling his reputable reputation for a mess of porridge? Brother Wickham, in dealing with the Antiguan Minister when the Scandal broke and Michael Assot had resigned from his Cabinet Position in Prime Minister Browne’s Cabinet, said on the Caribbean News that Michael Assot should not only resign from the Cabinet, he should also cease to represent his Constituency. In other words, Michael Assot should be erased from the Political Landscape of Antigua. His alleged participation in the Bribery Scandal was so horrific that his continued participation in the Politics of Antigua will be a blot, a scar, a stain, a blemish on the good name of Antigua and its people. Assot’s SIN is UNPARDONABLY UNFORGIVABLE and he should PAY the EXTREME PENALTY by VACATING the Political Landscape!
About a week later, Brother Peter Wickham changed his TUNE by saying that our Prime Minister Dr. Timothy Harris, who was alleged to be also involved in the same Atrocious Scandal in which he is requesting an EXPENSIVE WATCH AND A PAIR OF ALLIGATOR LEATHER SKINNED SHOES, must not step down from office. Here you have TWO PERSONS being INVOLVED in an INTERNATIONAL SCANDAL. You have recommended that one of them be wiped off the political landscape of his country and you then turn around and declare amnesty for the other person. Brother Peter Wickham is telling us that the Antiguan Minister deserves to be punished, but the Leader of St. Kitts should not suffer the same fate. What is Brother Wickham’s affinity to Dr. Harris that he can practice this deception, in his case, but practices hatred and animosity towards Minister Assot? Why Brother Wickham wants to hang Minister Assot politically, whilst he imposes a political life sentence on Dr. Timothy Harris?
In William Shakespeare’s Act, Scene III of his FAMOUS PLAY –“HAMLET,” Polonius says, “This above all: To thine own self be true and it must follow as the night the day. Thou canst not then be false to any man. Farewell, my blessing seasons this in you!” I wonder if Brother Wickham ever came across this quotation. I doubt it, for, if he did, he would not have practised such biasness, thereby tarring his reputation. In Life, we are gifted with an ASSET called RESPECT! We have to FIGHT WARS to maintain it in our LIVES. This ASSET cannot be bought; it must be earned and sometimes in the hardest of ways, but, when it is earned, it is well earned. When you LOSE this INTANGIBLE ASSET, it is UNREDEEMABLE. Regardless of how much you spend trying to regain it, it has flown away with the wind forever. It behooves us therefore to hold on tightly to it. Do not lose it, or else we will be like a twig floating on the ocean of life, compasslessly (my invention meaning listlessly) drifting, going hither, thither and yon unable to chart our destination. We who believe in ourselves must avoid this, regardless of our affinity!
