TNN 67
Hello folks… welcome to de news network of TnT… (deep voice)… Dis is TNN…. Trinidad is my land.. an’ of it I am proud and glad… (background music)……
Jumpstation: Money talks; Sticky wicket; Lookin' back.
Ah boy…de PM make ah stroke dey… lemme see how much
runs he go score. We
get we budget early dis year.. just last Monday, so
yuh know is plenty talk goin’ on now about if is ah election budget, if
we could afford what we undertake, how much foreign an’ domestic debt
we accumulate etc… Anyway ah see de Minster of Finance, Mr. Quiet
Tongue (Kuei Tung) say dis is he las’ budget.
Like de man hit an’ run….
Now, I eh no economist, but ah feel, like every
Trinbagonian, I have ah opinion, an’ it mus’ be important…. because it
comin’ from me... buh how yuh mean?!
Leh we look at some of de good items….. increased old
age pension, free Internet access for all schools, rebate on all taxes owed, so
yuh jus’ file dis year an’ dat is it (de Minister say we eh collectin’ de
arears anyway, so start wit’ ah clean slate), tax rebate for companies involve
in promoting art and culture, lower taxes on business… good… good…
However, den he went on to praise de government for
increasing the foreign reserves (no, sah.. dat was due to de price of oil
remaining high), keeping inflation low (dat goin’ on for de last 10 or more
years… no points), attracting much foreign investment in de natural gas sector
(anybody ever ask de kinda sweetheart deals we give dem foreign companies to
come here, de amount ah tax dey
evading, de pollution dey
causin’ an’ dey always demanding dat we drop de price of we natural
gas for dem….. no pints dey either).
But de worrisome t’ing about de budget was what he didn’t address… basically de man talk for nearly one hour praising up he government, chastisin’ de Opposition, an’ spend about 40 mins if so much givin’ some broad income and expenditure figures…..
At de end of it, yuh eh know whether to laugh, cry or remain serious.Now, when I buggetin’, stupid me does try an’ figure out
wey ah want to be in 1, 5, 10 years from now… so ah have meh short term plan,
ah take out ah l’il insurance for safety, ah have ah saving scheme, an’ ah
plan how ah intend to get from here to there, i.e. meh strategies.
Dat budget had one of de FIVE t’ings…. short term
expenditure.. So de man increase education, health an’
national security budget, but not ah clue on how or where de money go spend…
on teachers, on equipment, on schools, on ice cream, nobody eh know… an’ de
same way wit’ all de other Ministeries, no strategies outlined…
Den I eh hear nothin’ about wey de money comin’ from
to repay loans for de Water Project, de airport project, de school building
project, de North-South Highway project, de US$100 loan we just get for housing,
de new stadia we buildin’ for de Under 17 World Cup… who payin’ for dem
t’ings? …..ask me ah nex’ question, ah cyah answer yuh…. an’ why we
domestic debt increase by over 1 Billion dollars?
Plenty questions… no answers..
Ah didn’t mean to return to de subjct of cricket, but lemme ask yuh… WHAT DE HELL GOIN’ ON ?!
Yuh believe after losin’ to England, dem boys go an’ lose to ah county side by 269 runs?!
So what.. so what..! Best we play ah secondary school eleven… Imagine in de nine days before dey play Somerset, dem boys eh practice ONCE, but only take one session of physical trainin'……. Back up bowlers an’ batsmen fail miserably… but two days later dem boys chippin’ dong de street in Notting Hill Carnival… among dem, a fella who supposed to be injured so much dat he cyah play… an’ ah next one who make one decent score as ah opener in de last 4 Tests and 8 innings dat he play. Now dat eh madness…!
Now ah hearin’ dey tired…tired do what? De only nations we play against over de last 6 months was Zimbabwe (rated last), Pakistan (and a short series too!), an’ den England (rated second to last), so at least two of dem teams shoulda be walkovers.. so what yuh tired from?
An’ check out dis piece ah logic.. Chanderpaul mashup he tendons in he arm, de boy arm now declared heal, dey eh test him out in de nets or exercise de poor fella arm or anything, but dey send him to play a four day match, where he have to bat, field, an’ throw ball…yep! He mash it up again, an’ is home time…. cyah play in de las’ Match starting Today (Thursday).
We relief bowlers have injury (how dey get injured if dey hardly playin’ cricket? Dem eh play in no Test Match). Why dis side have so many injuries? We doh have ah physiotherapist? An’ people payin’ money, hard earned money to watch dis t’ing… What about responsibilty as a professional?
But like dey say, when fish rotten it does start from de head… ah wonder what de West Indies Cricket(y) Board have to say? Ah cyah wait to see de match report on dis series, it go make interestin’ readin’, ah sure…
Anyway, we have one chance to salvage pride and make sure that England eh beat we in ah Test series after 31 years of getting’ dey tail cut… anybody brave enough to take bets?! Ah waitin’…….
Yes, man…. 38 years….Independence Day 2000. TnT holdin’ on an’ standin’ proud! We come ah long way, yuh know….. an’ leh we not forget de people who bring we here.. all dem folks who labour long an’ hard so we could see we way…who dead without seein’ de Promise Land, but take we to de borders…who woulda t’ink it…?
Education for all, an’ some people insist on wastin’ it….. we boys makin’ it still in athletics (wha’ yuh say dey, Yorke-y, Laro, Latas, Ato…?)…. we goin’ to de best institutions abroad an’ not only holdin’ we head above water.. we swimming!
We export we calypso, steelband, Carnival…. yes, we have ah lot to be t’ankful for, we oil, natural gas, no civil war, starvation, natural disasters… yeah… we have it good… an’ doh leh nobody spoil it, eh?! As dey raise dey head stamp dem out… none ah dat, here, man!
We going upward and forward..we way ahead of dem
politcians in integration and vision…. doh leh dem fool you, is WE, not dem
who build de country… working in de
cane, de oil fields, de trade unions, civil, public service… all we elders who
break dey back.. is plenty little ants dat carry dat seed to plant it to make it
grow….. an’ yes, is ants ah say… we small, but we bad!
De only regret ah have is dat like we eh want to pass it
on to we younger ones.. all de lessons of life, history and culture we inherit
and develop, like we shame or we eh care…. we chilren lookin’ more an’
more like de “Neighbours dem own”… no man, history is important, if dey
doh have roots and pride, dey go drift, an who knows what shore dey go end up
on….? If we eh do dat, we go continue in
dependence an’ never get independent
(how yuh like dat piece ah phrase J
) Like meh boy Stalin say..