'aghhhhhhhh'

This week has me feeling so down about the rock and what really is our future. I have always considered myself to be Mr. Optimistic. Things would be bad, sometimes downright terrible with little or no hope and I would be there battling it out. The hard part is our present and future position is all man made [excuse the gender] and it seems that no matter what we do, how we vote, who we put our trust in, it somehow ends up bad. In 1956, the hope was there, a mass appeal, in 1986 it returned and was destroyed by 1990, in 2010 432,026 electors voted for the Peoples Partnership, in excess of 60% of the population. By 2015 a lot of the love disappeared and we found ourselves in a position of no-where once again. I use these years because the popular vote was there, the majority voted overwhelmingly for the winning party. Even though the winner in 1956 did not win by any semblance of a majority, over 80% of the electorate cast their vote.
It is interesting to note that in 1956 the PPPG received 104,242 votes and the PNM -105,513. The PNM beat the PPPG by 1,271 votes. The PNM won 13 seats and the PPPG won zero. I rest my case for proportional representation.

I guess then that for the last 61 years we can truly say we have done it wrong. We have made a mess of it, we all, you and I, have created the monster that has finally woken up and is set to destroy us all. We have suffered 1970, 1990 and now we may be facing a worst dilemma.

Justice consists not in being neutral between right and wrong,

but in finding out the right and upholding it, wherever found, against the wrong.

Theodore Roosevelt. 

Here it is we find ourselves with a Judicial system in tatters. A Judicial system that cannot be trusted to manage its own affairs far less of those commoners, us plebs, seeking justice before the courts.  How can the Head of the Judiciary, the Chief Justice, sit there knowing that he has mismanaged what he was appointed to do for the last eight years. The fact that no report was presented to the Parliament of the workings of the Judiciary, by the JSCL, that he the Chief Justice heads, is simply not acceptable and he must do the right thing and resign his position in disgrace. This revelation comes on the heels of the worst embarrassment ever, the complete screw up of the appointment of a High Court judge recently.
We are responsible, we allowed this to happen!

The debacle of the hierarchy of the Chief of Defense Force. What part of accepting responsibility we don't understand? The AG and the children with the firearms, the PMOTT and him dealing with his AG, the so-called report 12 months after the raising of the issue and a completely false report is presented blaming the wrong person for the mess the Defense Force has found itself in. And no one seems at all concerned that at the highest level of the command of the Defense Force you can have a coverup involving senior government officials, and worse, officials at the highest level of government involved in creating law in this country. Just to note that the PMOTT and the AG are the only two members of the Cabinet. All other Ministers are invited.
We are responsible, we allowed this to happen!

Over the last days the murderous crime situation seems to have come out with a vengeance. Gun toting bandits are captured on CCTV running through shopping centers, vicious cutlass and other attacks on innocent people, throats slit, bandits posing with serious weaponry. The rock is under siege by the drug and criminal gangs. The Customs and Excise Div don't seem to be at all concerned about the illegal importation of drugs, guns and ammunition. The Great Leader of the PSA does not seem to be at all concerned about having the necessary surveillance equipment operational at our commercial ports, the Ag Commissioner of Police has just been appointed for the tenth time to act in the position.  The Coast Guard seems to only operate 8 to 4, Monday to Friday. There is still a brand new patrol CG vessel that is parked up at the waterfront during the sittings of Parliament, obviously waiting on an attack from the sea side.
We are responsible, we allowed this to happen!

The economy is in a shambles. We have lost over 45% of our revenue as a result of lower energy prices, this since 2014. There has not been a single, not one clear mandate from this administration on how we as a country intend to deal with this, other than borrowing. The Parliament seems more concerned with 'jam and wine' rather than deal with the impending doom of the local economy. And I blame both the PMOTT and the LOTO. They both sat together the other day and the real issue was whether or not there was a camera in the room recording the closed door meeting. And we have to take this as good governance. The unions are active, the next shutdown being August 4th supposedly to march for bread and justice. Well, the bad news is unless we all understand what is happening today there will be no bread and, based on what I have said above, no justice. We may have noticed what happened in quiet, 'doh get vex Barbados' yesterday. The old order is on it's way out, and about time. The CLF issue has just been determined in favor of the State, I guess more court action.
We are responsible, we allowed this to happen!

I truly apologize for the repetition but unless we get it into our thick skulls that we control our destiny, not the 41 people on the Waterfront [we don't even have our Red House] we will forever be wallowing in the lagoon, literally. As you can see the 'lagoon' is now across the country. From South Quay to Debe.
I listen sometimes to talk radio and neither side gets it. They all want to maintain the status quo and that will be the death of all of us, that is the final nail in the coffin or the funeral pyre for this society.
And so as I stop my ramble I really ask that we seriously put our country before self and start the turn. Not by any means to turn the clocks back but to turn off of this road we are on and get serious about fixing this wonderful rock!

Aghhhhhhh!