Law and Politics
by Lloyd Noel
Having lived through the fortieth year of our Tri-Island state as an Independent Nation – those of us who actually experienced all those years as residents in our homeland, we must be having a variety of ideas and second thoughts – as we look back at the happenings and recall the experiences we encountered over those many years.
Not that we can do anything about those happenings as we remember them – but we may be more prepared, and much more ready to make amends and change our attitudes to many of those happenings, as we go forward into the years ahead.
We have already been forewarned, that the government in control is embarking on Constitutional Reform by a referendum in March next year, to radically change our current political status from that of a member of the British Commonwealth of Nations, to that of a Republican State which will be aligned to an unknown state not yet revealed to our people.
We already know that the controllers have been selling Grenadian passports to foreigners in the Far East especially – and as a result thereof, Canada has already stopped Grenadians from entering that country – unless they obtain a Canadian visa for so doing.
If that referendum succeeds and we move away from our Commonwealth membership — to that of some other foreign statehood — then our lifestyle and our status as we have been accustomed to for ever so long will be things of the distant past.
We now have a Parliament (Upper and Lower House) where the government is in total control – and the voices in that Upper House are a strange mixture of people, who were once in opposition of the current controlling party – but now are in leadership positions of the same party and the government.
How that state of affairs will help or hinder the controllers in their drive to obtain the two-thirds (2/3) majority vote in the referendum to reform the Constitution in March next year — only time and the actual results will determine when the votes are counted.
It must be very obvious to many on the outside – who are looking at the movements and appointments taking place inside the corridors of power – that most of those are mainly made for political convenience, in the hope that the new-comers will be able to sway the voters, when it comes down to the referendum for getting the required two-thirds majority vote come March next year.
The people can only wait to see what will happen next year as opposed to the situation they are now facing, after nearly two years since the unopposed controllers have been occupying the seats of power.
The promises and the plans that were dished out during the campaign – to win all the fifteen seats in the Lower House since February last year – these and those remain just that, with nothing on the political horizon that even looks like changing the economic temperature any time soon – and the many thousands still unemployed with no jobs anywhere in sight, that number is increasing rather than going down.
It must be heartrending and very depressing – for those people who have children especially, and have no jobs to be able to provide the basic necessities – at this time of the year in particular and nothing in sight for next year.
It is sincerely hoped – that some parts of the programs the controllers keep talking about, will be realized in the New Year – so that at least some families will have a breadwinner among the lucky jobfinders.
One situation is very certain in the coming New Year – whether we vote in favour of the reformation or not – and that is our people cannot go through another year without the opportunities to find some form of employment to feed their families.
The budget for next year boasts of over a billion and a quarter dollars in revenue and expenditure by government – we can only hope and pray that from such a figure some employment will be provided to help some families earn a living.
In addition to the above, it is also the hope that those foreign Investors who bought our Grenadian Passports – based on the scheme that they will be moving into the Island to start up various business ventures that will also provide employment around the Islands for our people – that the said scheme will sooner than later come into operation.
The situation a whole lot of people lived through last year and this year – just cannot be tolerated for another year without very serious improvements on the economic front.
As we move into another New Year just around the corner – I wish all those who take the time to read this article, God’s blessing and good health and prosperity for the New Year.
