By Sojourner
There is a lot of buzz in the air… much ado… but not about nothing! Because for this election it seems like EVERYTHING is at stake....the stakes are high high… and politicians are pulling out all the stops!
So there is a lot of discussion around all the politics: the expensive billboards, the number of plywood signs, the red plastic… and blue plastic, the red streamers hanging over our heads like biddie biddie, the calypsos and other songs (even heard a clap clap one), the Ads… oh the Ads!
To me it's it all so hilarious, and even though I do not want to respond, when I hear one or two of them I cannot help my self from laughing and my body from jigging.
But today much of the discussions I got into centred on the non-national issue.
It is funny how in this election, everybody is concerned about non-nationals. The UPP is walking on egg shells trying not to antagonize them! And the ALP, acting like a rich knight, or the dashing prince trying to woo the poor peasant girl.
I hope that those non nationals also know that sometimes those dashing princes just turn out to be toads that can only croak (or smoke pipe), or trolls that do wicked things to unsuspecting, needy and sometimes greedy peasant girls!
Anyhow, there is a lot of anxiety about the non-nationals. And, there is much suspicion about how they have acquired their Temporary Residence status.
One suspicion is that plenty of them, apparently with help from top people at immigration were able to get the status with out spending the required 3 years here. The nerve of these people!
Now I do not know if this is true, but the persons who added this information in the discussion, should know. If this is true something needs to be done about this. Yes, it is late for that now, but when UPP wins the public trust again – for the second time, they must put their foot down and have clean up these illegal practices at the Immigration Department… and elsewhere…
Talking about Immigration... I also understand that that whole place needs cleaning out… (Other places too!) And again, much of the discussion was about how the UPP dropped the ball. They left all them ALP die-hards in positions where they can do damage and sabotage. And damage they apparently have been doing for the past five years. Now, the chickens are coming home to roost… or in the words of a high ranking comrade, “We catch dem with them pants down.”
What audacity… that an Antiguan… a well placed Antiguan… a professional Antiguan with a “king”-sized job… An Antiguan pitied by the UPP and given a seat at the table… but an Antiguan non-the-less… would stoop so low as to help to disenfranchise Antiguans and Barbudans for political gain… maybe other gain too!
Then the discussion shifted to how the non-nationals walking around large, like dem own the place, looking at you funny if you don't sound like dem. Just imagine, Antiguans feeling uncomfortable in our own yard... Antiguans marginalized in their own country.
Can you imagine going to Jamaica and taking over the place, or going to Guyana and acting like you run things… The audacity of these people come here trying to take charge and skew our election!
Can you imagine non-nationals having this kind of power in any other Caribbean country? In St Lucia? In Dominica? In Trinidad? In Barbados? Well, Barbados, is the last place I should have mentioned. Because, in Barbados they have a bench at the airport call the “Guyana Bench” when they come in at the airport, they put them to sit on it and send them packing on the next available flight! So Barbados won't have this kind of problem. We shouldn’t either.
You know the thing that bothers me, is that when I check out the scene, it seems like most Antiguans, have gotten tired of ALP, tired of their corruption, tired of their immorality, tired of all the wheeling and dealing… Just tired of them. But the non-nationals seem to be in a drunken stupor… and when I hear them talking about blue chicken, and about how the UPP wicked and don’t love non-nationals… I really really get vex! The audacity and nerve of them!
After we take care of business on Thursday, March 12th we have got to take care of this non-national issue… once and for all!
