[dropcap]I[/dropcap] recall my friend and former Samarian classmate the late Lenard ‘Dadda’ Riviere, an attorney general in the John Compton government of the 1980s, citing scripture from a public platform: “The poor will always be with you.” The message was that no government had discovered the final answer to poverty. Maybe because one did not exist. Lenard was, of course, referring to material poverty, not poverty of spirit. The way I see it, poverty of spirit is far more insidious and damaging to a human being than the lack of creature comforts. The latter can be fixed by hard work and determination; the former, not so easily. Poverty of spirit is more elusive and it can often be chronic in people who appear normal. It can be hidden behind a smile. It often expresses itself in a parasitic attachment to someone whom the sufferer believes will boost his deflated spirit, or add something to his self-image.
Neither Lenard nor any other member of his party had suggested that the island’s constitution should be amended to provide that work and wealth redistribution be fundamental clauses in a revised constitution. If the provision of work and wealth redistribution was stipulated as a constitutional provision, every government would be obliged to look anew at politics rather than hide behind a book two thousand years old. To the modern politician the words “feed my lamb and my sheep” pass through the vacant space between their ears untroubled. In the modern era, a wise government ought to amend its country’s constitution and introduce progressive guiding principles that would make the provision of job opportunities a national priority. Relevant laws would strengthen the manner of the state’s treatment of its citizens and would hold accountable anyone who tries to frustrate in words and/or deeds, the government’s efforts at job creation. Such a new constitution would obligate politicians to first look after the people’s welfare, before seeing after themselves.
In addition, there would be more severe penalties for politicians caught making deals that enhance their personal bank accounts. Those who fraudulently withhold monies meant for the national treasury should be treated in accordance with our constitution. There should be very little wiggle room in sentencing such deceitful public figures. Persons such as garbage truck owners, who are forced to pay certain former ministers before they can receive a contract should be encouraged to speak out publicly. It’s time to stop this twisting of the hands of persons seeking government contracts by politicians and their agents. During my tenure as Minister of Agriculture and Lands, I helped a certain person acquire a lot of land belonging to the crown. Later, that person divested his business into garbage collection. He has had to pay cash to certain former ministers in order to get a contract for garbage collection. Some payments were allegedly requested for financing election campaigns. Even today, almost forty years later, I am offered all sorts of gifts by that person whenever our paths cross. He does not seem to understand that I was merely doing my job. Once he had received his crown grant and had paid government the agreed price, my work was done. His duty was to feed and educate his family and to offer employment to those in need.
Evil roams the world, today more than ever.
Some will sacrifice their wives and children in their mindless efforts to do their party leader’s bidding. Why do people persist in such displaced loyalty? Could it have something to do with psychological needs not visible to the regular eye?
On another note: on his weekly DBS-TV show TALK, Rick Wayne likes to inform his viewers that that he does not owe any party or government permanent loyalty. But I know persons who are loyalists to the bone. They do not care about the principles of their party. For them, the party is less important than its leader. These people will leave their wives and families unattended in order to do the business of a political leader. Why do some people persist in such displaced loyalty? I think a psychological hunger created by a poverty of spirit is the best answer I can offer. Any student of the Holy Bible will appreciate the fact that there are evil spirits roaming the world in search of souls to destroy. In this regard, the Book of Job is instructive. God made a deal with the Devil and allowed the evil one to test Job, whom God had blessed with wealth and good children. Job suffered severe losses and privations but his faith in God held firm, even after he was moved to question God as to why he was being punished.
Evil still roams the earth, perhaps now more than before. Whether we choose to hit back, to stand up, or to be up front, a new political education must begin to beat back Satan, and his evil helpers. It was notable that after Rick had informed his viewers last Thursday to be careful about propagating evil, his very first caller uttered two expletives then quickly hung up. It’s time for the poor in spirit to remove their blinders and to judge people (and their political leaders) by what they do, not by what they say. Unfortunately, it seems some were evidently born to follow losers with their loser philosophies!
