As a 22 year old male, politics (Poli-trics) has always been a subject of which I kept my distance, for I felt I was too young and just didn’t want to get involved, but clearly, things are different now, much different from then. Things are harder, the unemployment level is evidently on the rise and the cost of living is increasing, but the real fear of all is our freedom. Of-course, we are free!!! Free from slavery and we are an independent nation, we are not under dictatorship (not yet as some would argue), but to question our freedom, How long shall we truly be free?
How long shall we be free, if every day it’s a new tax or a bill? How long shall we be free when the minds of those who lead us are corrupted? How long shall we be free, when every day the deficit grows? We are spending so much more than we produce or own. How can we enjoy our freedom, when the very things we fought for are being sold?
I am currently unemployed, but I still enjoy life as someone around my age should. Where ever I go, may it be out to lunch, shopping, church or even just staying home, politics is at the fore front of any and every conversation. And, no matter where these conversations take place, the arguments are the same, where both parties on the giving and receiving end, talks about the decision our Prime Minister made to swap 1200 acres of state land to National Bank in exchange for some 900 million dollars in government debt.
Of all the topics I’m hearing through the political air, this is one which truly saddens me.
In a clothing store sometime last week, I ask the lady a price for a pant that caught my eye, she gladly whispered “$60” followed by “you’re a young man, I’m not asking what’s your political preference, but what do you think about the rut our little country is in and what do you think about our Prime Minister selling out our land?”
To be honest I was quite mad at first, simply because I was just there to buy a pant, but being the ‘nuff’ person I am, I humored her.
In my response I told her that I wouldn’t exactly describe our country’s current status as being in a ‘rut’, but I would say that it’s a slow period which I think will be very beneficial to us in the long run. (After all you never know how great something truly is until it goes through something tough.) Right?
I don’t know if my response was to her liking, but it was a simple response where I would get over that topic quickly.
Tugging my friend, signaling her that we should leave, the lady shouted “You didn’t tell me what you think about the land swap.” I hurriedly replied, “I think there were other alternatives to help out in the debt department, but Douglas is our Prime Minister and what is done can’t be undone, his decision is final.”
Up to this day I am not sure what I said to trigger her anger but she broadened her eyes, looked at me and said, “Let me tell you something, you young and you dumb, the Prime Minister is taking advantage of us, and he is taking all he can get before he retires. He was a great PM in the beginning but over the years, greed took over his mind. I am a Kittitian and a speak for all those who don’t see, and those who see and don’t talk, this is our country, our island and if he continues to sell us out, soon we will have to pay rent for what is ours.”
What she said really stuck to me. Is this a really a land that we own, or are we secretly paying rent, disguised as taxes? Is this our land, or is this or lease.
Investigating the whole land swap deal, I came across an article written by a local media house which quoted the Minster Sam Condor speaking at a constituency meeting, about alternatives to the deal, which he allegedly suggested to the Prime Minister. According to Condor, he had suggested that the land be sold to the Social Security Board where it was guaranteed to stay in the hands of the people. A second option he told the crowd was that monies from the Sugar Industry Diversification Fund (SIDF) be used to pay down the National Debt.
Now, I’m not an expert and you don’t have to be an expert to agree with Hon. Condor, that these were much better deals than the one that was made. All round St. Kitts people are crying, not only crying for themselves in this current state but for their children and their children’s children to come.
So many people have worked their tails off and are still working for a better St. Kitts and Nevis and if deals of this nature continue, our own won’t be ours any more.
I just want to take this time to plead with our politicians, asking them to focus on the betterment of the county and its people; take heed in our country’s motto which is ‘Country Above Self’ and lastly, to help us enjoy our own as much as we can.
Quoted from a close friend of mine who said it best “Today is the time, the opportune time for each of us to engage in self-introspection to ascertain exactly what we can do to move our country forward. We must ask ourselves what we can do for our country and not what our country can do for us.”
No matter what, this is our LAND not our LEASE.
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