By Marcus M. Mottley, Ph.D.
I watched... albeit from afar... last night's UPP launch of its Manifesto: Defending the Nation. I like it. The UPP states that in 2004 the goal was to rescue the nation from the hands of the Bird dynasty. The party contends that they have accomplished that. Now they want to ensure that they defend the nation from going back into the clutches of the same dynasty that failed the nation year after year... for over 28 years.
I like what the manifesto says. It contends that they rescued the country from "a collapsing economy, ostracism by international agencies, stagnant tourism, and deeply disaffected youth." They rescued the country from mismanagement, corruption and incompetent leadership. they ensured that from the time the Baldwin Spencer Administration took the reins of government, civil servants received their salaries! And very importantly, they rescued the country from those who were giving away our country piece by piece, acre by acre, island by island to that nefarious pirate of the Caribbean.
So... yes... the UPP has conducted a rescue mission and they need to defend the gains we have made as a nation since we uplifted them to high office.
However, there is at least one more act of rescue that has to be undertaken: We need to take back Guiana Island and rescue it from the clutches of that pirate of the Caribbean... the buccaneering knight whose name is all over the world's media - and whose name has been linked to suspicions of fraud and financial malfeasance.
This is the same pirate that I have been writing about for five lonely years.
Can you imagine that he went behind our backs and bought the same island that we refused to sell him and/or refused to allow him to negotiate a deal with Dato Tan over. He went behind our backs... undercover... underhanded... in the dark of night... sneaking... like the pirate he is... and purchased the island anyway.
Not only did he purchase it. He purchased the majority of the shares of the company that owned it. As a matter of fact... we are not even sure of the facts... whether he purchased the company or purchased the island or purhcased the company and the island... or well... you got the picture. But whatever he did, he made sure that he has control over the island.
He pirated our island away from us in the dark... out of sight... hidden from the public... He did this knowing - fully aware - that we did not want him to have it. Knowing fully well... that we wanted it back from the clutches of Dato Tan.
The man who my country saw fit to elevate to knighthood... in the dark of night... saw fit to usurp our property... my property...
Now, I have been saying that he went behind our backs... You know, on reflection, I am not so sure that he went behind all of our backs! Did those money grabbing, red shirted politicians on the other side know that he had control, was going to get control, or advised him how to get control of the island? Did they know??? Did his legal team know? I am talking about the legal team that is owned by a current member of parliament on this side? These are only questions!
Who knew?
The fact that Antigua's off-shore pirate had possession and/or control of one of Antigua's most pristine off-shore islands... must have been known to some of his close on-shore confidants! This I believe! Who? I don't know... not yet!
By the way... we should have known something was up a couple of years ago when he was trying to get that island. He slinked away from that fight too easily. I know... and you know that all pirates love off-shore islands... Tortuga, Treasure Island, etc. And this pirate... who was himself from off-shore, and who was involved in off-shore shenanigans... would definitely have liked his own off-shore island... to hide his treasure, hide his nefarious activities, covertly slip in and slink out... staying away from prying eyes! I should have known... we should have known that he would not take "no" for an answer from our Government... that he would find ways to circum-navigate us.
But what goes around... comes around...
Now we must truly defend our nation: We must take our island back. We cannot allow the SEC to get their hands on our property. That may be a worse nightmare. We will have to fight that is clear... because the US receiver is probably going to try to claim all that the pirate grabbed and was allowed to grab. But for that fight... let us now put ourselves in a position of strength.
There is a saying that possession is 90% of the law... well. Let's make it 100% of our law!
Take back our island. Now!
