WHEN THE OLD PEOPLE say “everything does happen for a reason”, they say so based on the wisdom of experience.
I had a lot to say. I was bursting for more than a year and a half and I was waiting for my moment to spill.
Then last Thursday, at least 24 hours earlier than I had anticipated, and without the advanced notice that would have attracted the attention of the news media, Acting Magistrate Alliston Seale ruled. There were no reporters or television cameras waiting outside so I could not vent.
But today I will, albeit calmed by the intervention of the past five days.
Barely one month and a half after I returned to the Nation newspaper as Editor-in-Chief I, along with two colleagues, was arrested and charged by police with publishing an indecent photo of two minors. Even today, it would take the intervention of the Angel Gabriel to convince me the entire episode was not motivated by other factors.
Since November 2013 I have been forced to spend numerous wasted hours in court answering a criminal charge for an action that took place when I was not even on duty. But trained lawmen must have investigated so they would have known who was in charge, right?
They charged Sanka Price for showing the photo, but he had been relieved of duties as editor of the publication almost a month earlier by me. But trained lawmen must have investigated, so they would have known he had no authority over the publication, right?
One of the problems I have found with politicians over the last almost four decades in this profession is that too often for their own good, they mistake duty for friendship, and repeatedly fall victim to talking too much in front of the wrong people.
Here’s a bit of advice for my political “friends”: Some people who open the door for you, bring your coffee, take your travel documents to be processed, answer your phone and check your email, call your spouses when you need an alibi, cover up which house on the Sandy Lane Estate you use as a hideout, or even tell you how to be sure you are not being followed when you are suspicious, often only do so out of a sense of duty. They are not your friends.
In fact, it might be to your advantage to learn who their friends were for decades before you got a political pick with a very short shelf life, that has suddenly given you a grossly exaggerated sense of your own importance.
That’s why those who would wish to convince me that there was no other motivation behind the action of the police would have to explain how a political operative of the Government, using the VIP Lounge at the Grantley Adams International Airport while awaiting to board a flight, could publicly declare that charges would be brought, precisely what those charges would be and who would be charged. This was nearly a week before the police had a conversation with me or either of my colleagues.
Fortunately our justice system is still presided over largely by men and women of character who don’t feel obligated to follow the political lead.
I wait patiently for the next attack – for it shall surely come, even as they spout platitudes about freedom of the Press and the maturity of our democracy. Insecure people never take kindly to being challenged, especially when wrongs flutter freely in the wind like the flag over Parliament. So take your best shot because I don’t plan to play dead!
Lest noise more talking needed
Go placidly amid the noise and the haste, and remember what peace there may be in silence.
As far as possible, without surrender, be on good terms with all persons.
Speak your truth quietly and clearly; and listen to others, even to the dull and the ignorant; they too have their story.
Avoid loud and aggressive persons; they are vexatious to the spirit.
THIS OPENING PORTION of Desiderata came to mind this week as the dispute between the National Union of Public Workers (NUPW) and the Barbados Investment and Development Corporation (BIDC) escalated into a public march and demonstration through Bridgetown. There certainly has been a lot of noise and haste since this matter first entered the public domain, and it looks like there will be a lot more noise before it is resolved.
I am satisfied that this dispute has reached this stage because, for all the noise being spouted, not a lot of “talking with” is taking place – and on top of that, the conduct of public business today is clearly characterised by a Government that appears averse to engagement, perhaps with the exception of a few individual members.
I also hold the view that our political leaders are not very discerning these days. It really would not have taken a lot of deep thinking or observation to see this situation escalating. Every statement from a union, regardless of the nature of the issue, in the past year of so has suggested a mounting tension and unease. The BIDC matter was the mere catalyst for the explosion we are now experiencing.
Observant leaders would have seen the attack coming and would have initiated engagement to “head it off at the pass”. But no, we act as though it will magically disappear because we keep our eyes closed and then talk about “it is not my habit to inject myself anywhere”.
For heaven’s sake, at election time politicians can’t help injecting themselves in every hole they can find, metaphorically speaking of course, and all of a sudden we can invoke some protocol that would keep us from doing what sensible people would.
Unwittingly this Government has compounded its challenges by providing a cause around which all the unions can gather. It now means that whether or not the Barbados Workers’ Union rejoins the Congress of Trade Unions and Staff Associations of Barbados or whether Caswell Franklyn’s Unity Trade Union enters the grouping, an informal framework for future alliances has been created.
For our nation’s sake, I sincerely hope we can start talking again. Our leaders have had to grapple with some difficult and highly technical disputes in the past, and they have done so successfully. Whether a state agency can forcibly retire an employee at age 60 does not appear nearly as complex. It should never have come to this – and that is regardless of whether the piece of legislation has been used in this manner before.
So let’s all pause now and listen to the “dull and the ignorant” – perhaps they will have something of worth to add.
Glad to see orderly march
STILL ON THE ISSUE of this week’s march, I offer congrats to the police for their “management” of the event.
A handful of unarmed officers in uniform was all that was needed to keep order among 5 000-odd demonstrators. Too often we fail to recognise how important it is to start right if we want to end right.
Barbadians are generally peace-loving, orderly people and when left alone to do their thing, they will have their say and move on. Supportive and facilitative policing worked on Monday.
Congrats to all who were responsible. That’s the Barbados with which we are more familiar.