Dese days any good news is welcome. Tings in de world been rough fuh years and every year yuh tink: “Well, at least next year things gine be better”, and den next year come and things worse than de year before and somehow, nuh matter what, de price of everything going up and de only ting dat going down is de li’l savings yuh got set aside fuh a rainy day.
So when good news come, celebrate it. When I read dat an organization in Berlin Germany called Transparency International declare dat li’l Bubbadus is de least corrupt country in de Caribbean, muh heart swell wid Bajan pride as wide from North Point to Ragged Point. Bubbadus get rank number 15 in de whole world beating places like Japan, Britain, USA and other big and important countries. Dat is cause fuh celebration.
And when yuh see how Bubbadus do compared to other Caribbean countries like Trinidad and Tobago, number 80, Guyana, number 133, Haiti number 165, Cuba number 58 and so on, dat is further cause fuh celebration.
It also mean dem countries got work to do to clean up dem act. If, fuh example, yuh following de CLICO enquiry in Trinidad and Tobago, yuh got to ask yuhself when somebody gine get lock up fuh carrying away poor people money.
Just imagine how things does work in countries like Dennark, Finland and New Zealand dat tie fuh number one?
So, my Bubbajan brethren, leh we celebrate dat dis li’l rock is still a good place to be. Yes, we got high unemployment, people catching duh tail, cost of living high, energy costs high, water rate high, VAT high, less tourists around, but we holding on and while tings might be tight, we is not corrupt people.
But dat don’t mean we don’t have some vagabonds who would carry way de mattress even while yuh sleeping pun it. Don’t leh we get carry away wid de praise from Transparency International.
Daily I hear stories ’bout people greasing de machinery to get tings done ’bout here. Fuh years from de platforms we hear how dis politician tief and become millionaires overnight, who get kickbacks but when elections done, tings does go back to normal and nobody don’t remember to follow through and bring de culprits to justice.
I want Tranparency International to explain how dem determine who corrupt or not. Fuh example, did wunnah come into a place like Bubbadus and try to bribe somebody? A man in Customs? An Immigration officer? A police officer? A politician? A VAT man? A DJ, a journalist? Wunnah ever get pelt in jail fuh trying to corrupt somebody? Did wunnah walk wid Vaseline and hot pepper just in case of a jailing?
My mind boggle at how wunnah determine Guyana is de 133rd most corrupt country in de world. Ah could hear my Guyana brethren: “Bannos, haul yuh . . . .” Some of de least corrupt people I know come from de very countries dat get low rankings like Guyana, Jamaica and Trinidad and Tobago. Exactly how yuh does corrupt somebody in Cuba, particularly a government official?
So before we celebrate, I want de explanation from de people who tek it pun demselves to say who clean and who dirty.
I, Market Vendor, gone fuh now. You have a blessed and a wonderful day, yuh hear?
