TNN 65
Hello folks, sorry about de delays wit’ TNN over de past couple weeks…had some odder t’ings to arrange..but we back on de air again….. and….. (deep voice) Dis is TNN…… Lorraine doh cry, ah leavin’… ah cyah miss dis jammin’ (background music.. Explainer)
Jumpstation: Politricks; We developing; West Indies cricket... West Indian society.
Oh, for some real men for a change…ah never see so much makomere-man in meh life.. check out de situation….. “Jack be nimble” Warner who is ah UNC supporter say he was going to hire Eddie “Heart” for ah post in he sports business. Eddoes say how Jacko try tuh bribe him, because de PM, Manday he self, was in de meeting …lemme stop here for ah while…
Why was Manday dey? He say he “was in de area” so he drop by… umm.. hmmm. Now I doh have no problem if Jack invite ah donkey to he meeting (or maybe he did!) to help him make ah decision.. ah mean is Jack business, so he could consult or hire who he want…. if he want to ask de PM he opinion, no problem…but ah mean, you is de Prime Minister of de country, alyuh have cell phone, jus’ excuse yuhself, or give yuh opinion over de phone… why yuh have tuh get involve at ah personal level….. remember yuh office.. an’ yuh didn’t t’ink it woulda look bad for de PM to be dey helpin’ make ah decision concerning a SPORTING complex?!
Oh gorm, man, yuh is ah lawyer…de only sport you does play now is golf, (Some people say yuh does play “empty…ooops, sorry…spin de bottle” too), but I eh business wit’ dat.
Den ah nex’ PNM fella say dey offer him $1.5M to jump to de UNC (why dey doh offer me dat, boy?!)…. Manday say he eh know nothin’ about dat…. dis startin’ to sound like some Mission Impossible show…nobody know nothin’ about anyt’ing….
Manday say if people bring evidence he go investigate it….. like he investigate de NP racket an’ de $30M rice deal, remember dem?……
Now Jack son is one of de nominees to run against Eddoes, but Jack-son was ah PNM before… look, is enough to make yuh head hurt yuh….fellas, look, leh we focus on somet’ing relevant for ah change nah….
An’ what has Papatrick Maddening to say as leader of de (no) Opppostion…? Thankfully nothin’…. notice nobody eh pay he to join dem.. in fact people askin’ him to leave!..
Now it lookin’ bad on both sides….. Manning lose Quiet Tongue, Kamal, Murie (who fightin’ him in he own constituency now), Lassie, Gruff-ith, Sharp boy Gillette, from he party to de UNC (like de only t’ing he could hang on to is he glasses), an’ if de UNC soooooo good, why it t’iefin’ people from de PNM?
Yuh see, one setta crapaud politics goin’ on.. is ah auction out dey….. an’ dey want yuh to vote for dem, yuh know… an’ somebody tell Maddening dat when people make advances to yuh party members, yuh suppose to hold dat information until close to election an’ den release it, before "damage control" could jump on it…by nex’ week, dat issue under de carpet…
Dat man is ah political neophyte, ah tell yuh…… ah t’ink ah startin’ meh party dis year, yes….. but yuh must have invitation to come…!
Dat is all de talk ah hearin’ from “Johnny” Humphrey…you would swear TnT is ah roll of film (or flim as Trins say…).
Yes, man, first was de north west peninsula whey dey decide to expand de Port. Dat was de plan more dan 2 years now, an’ me didn’t really have ah problem wit’ dat.
Dey say how we goin’ to be de gateway to South America an’ we have to expand to accommodate more trade, etc…okay, okay… we was goin’ to lose some mangrove in de process, but yuh cyah keep everyt’ing.
Now we hearin’ is not only Port expansion, is
condominiums, is shopping centre, is walkway, is ah whole waterfront
development…dey eh bodder to tell nobody plans change, an’ nex’ t’ing
yuh know is mangrove fallin’ like rain, more dirt dan ah politician
convention, reclamation.. toute bagai! Immediately
some environmental groups set up camp (literally) across de road and start tuh
collect signatures. Man, dat eh
stop mih boys…back-hoes, bulldozers goin’ back an’
forth… an’ people in ah uproar.
Den dey gone up Toco and decide dey buildin’ ah port for dem ol' ships to have facilities, so dey doh have to go to the Gulf of Paria, or use other far away facilities. Well, like de north west, what was ah port turn into ah port, marina, ferry for Tobago, hotel and marina. De only t’ing dey eh put dong is ah doubles stall!
Well Toco groups fly up like ah nest ah jack-spaniards.. a few supporting, de majority against. Environmental groups get involved again… den… screeecccchhhh! Dey stop de project yesterday an’ say de goin’ to fin’ ah new location for de port facilities since uniformed groups an’ people wit’ no interest in de area (once I is ah Trini, I have interest in any area in de country…doh be fas’!) an’ enemies of de government raise so much fuss.
So dey bowin’ to public pressure…. uummmm… hmmmm..
how come dey didn’t do dat when dey award de contract for de $800M airport
illegally? Or de desalination plant ($4,000m) or de Ms. Universe show
($72M) etc……? Oh, wait ah minute.. is ah election year…. oh lorse,
sorry, sorry, ah didn’t realise….
So what de Cobra have tuh say about all dis..? Well common (or uncommon?) sense is usually de bes’ guide… I believe dat we cyah leave everyt’ing “de way it was”…dat eh makin’ sense… we have to cut we losses in some cases for de benefit of progress…but development must begin wit’ PEOPLE…
Take Toco for example…why spend money (yuh spen’ it on
everyt’ing else) on havin’ a proper fish depot, with ice facilities and a
small processing plant so fisherman wouldn’t have to sell dey fish cheap
before it spoil on dem? What about
some beach facilities for a change up in Toco, run buy locals?
If yuh want tourism, set up forest trails wit’ guides, eco-cottages and
tent grounds dat locals could manage, what about agriculture and small
agro-industries for export? T’ink
of a Toco museum and craft centre.
Small restaurants etc… An’ is not only for tourists, yuh
know… locals could use all dem facilities too and make purchases.
DEN yuh could put dong yuh port (ah still not seein’ de use of de Tobago
ferry… why I go drive 2 or more hours to Toco to take ah ferry?).
Dat is “people centred” or “appropriate development”.
When de oil people come, yuh meetin’ ah thrivin’ place, so de people
eh totally dependent on outsiders.
Now, in any development plan, inform and talk to de people
first…doh try an’ push nothin' dong dey throat… ah hear how de developer
heself do ah study an’ come up wit’ de result dat de project go provide
employment an’ would cause no damage to de natural environment… doh make
joke? Really? Dat is objectivity in yuh nennen!
Furthermore, ah could hardly see de sea now, t’anks to some ugly “developments” dey put dong west. Johnny say he want ah waterfront, wit’ de place lookin’ like Miami… Somebody tell sonny …it might surprise him…DIS IS NOT MIAMI!.
An’ look at de size of Florida…dey have
enough natural areas to use.. how much we have left.
If we continue so, wey ah go
go to get ah l’il piece an’ quiet? Why
he doh attempt to build some hotels and condominiums in Yellowstone National
Park or de Grand Canyon…it have plenty room dere, ent?!
Ah fin’ dey need to develop dey t’inking!
WEST INDIES CRICKET........ WEST INDIAN SOCIETY
Yuh know yuh does hear real talk about how de West Indies state of cricket does reflect the state of West Indian society. Any number of ‘social philosophers’ talkin’ about how when we was striving for unity in de islands after independence, how we produce some of we best cricketers, an’ doh forget de dominance over the eighties when we was blazin’ everybody.. dey was getting’ licks back, belly an’ centre from de WI. No mercy! It wasn’t ah question of if we was goin’ to win, but how long it woulda take……
Now over de las’ 5 years we seein’ like we lose we way…we winnin’ by accident now…England an’ Zimbabwe lookin’ like mountains to overcome…. de talk is dat we societies fractured now, economies fallin’ by de wayside an’ de cricket reflectin’ de state of the Caribbean.
In ah way, yes, but ah t’ink de state of cricket is even
more ah reflection of how we manage (or mismanage) things…so if we smart, we
go learn ah t’ing or two from de present mess…. leh meh explain, since ah
see some of alyuh frownin’ like trade union leaders…
Remember when we was on top, an’ we was sharin’ blows like police in ah riot? Yeah, de cricketers was ‘we boys’, not so? We chest out like pigeon in Woodford Square, struttin’…. But did we stop to consider dat maybe, jus’ maybe, de fellas woulda leave some day, an’ we should start preparin’ ah nex’ side…? Nooooooo, no foresight…no planning for de future…
Compare TnT, Guyana and Jamaica.. at one time all dese
economies were bigger dan life, but look at de state of t’ings now (though TnT
comin’ back now ‘oil doh spoil’ an’ all dat…)…plan for when t’ings
start to go dong, nah…. encourage and teach de younger ones, so dey could make
we proud…instead we let dem run wild…everybody want to play basketball now,
man smilin’ at yuh wit’ gold teeth (instead of takin’ de money an’ doing
some course to improve deyself)… We wearin’ brand name clothes only,
an’ changin’ wit’ de fashion… so doh feel Iman wearin any
‘hand-meh-downs’ again…. So jus’ like we eh groom de young
ones, same t’ing happen in cricket, so is only one or two really tryn’ dey
han’ at de game…..
Observe de West Indies Cricket Board…. everyt’ing is
ah personality clash (ask Brian Lara, Richards or any one of dem fellas)…dey
mus’ always be in control, everybody is ah little boy an’ mus’ do as dey
say.. if yuh show dem up or disagree wit’ dem, get used to eatin’ dogfood…
dey eh dey to help, support and ensure dat de cricketers get de bes’
deal…. Does dat remind you of any government in particular?
Yeah, dey from de same crop… de fruit doh fall far from de tree… goat
cyah make sheep! Dat is we ‘management’ style.
An’ observe again how we does criticize we cricketers (not constructive critism ah talkin’ about, eh..), is ah lot of venom an’ scorn… We does distance weself… all ah hearin’ dese days is ‘dem fellas an’ dem’.. suddenly we doh know dem….. why? Because we never learn to appreciate weself.
Compare wit’ we governments who always have to get
‘foreign consultants’, who appreciate people from ‘away’, who quick to
excuse what is inexcusable… wen de mark bus’ wit’ de South African
cricketers takin’ bribe, up to now I eh hear one West Indian journalist get on
dey back for bringin’ de game into disrepute…not one ah dem praise ‘we
boys’, among de poorest paid cricketers in the worl’ , for not takin’
bribe. Why we must hold dem
up as good? Ent dem jus’ like we?
Dat’s all for dis week folks… see you later in de week .. take care.. ah gone… Peace… Remember any comments, questions, queries, ole talk, greetings…etc, jus’ write to ttcobra1@hotmail.com an’ we go reply to yuh….. laters… Tell meh where yuh been las’ night, Caroline…..Tell meh…where yuh been las’ night, Caroline… ( background music Lion)
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