ZJB Radio Listener
Thursday, January 28, 2016
Mr Editor,
Allow me space Sir to share some thoughts in your publication.
I am of the view that some politicians right here in this beautiful land of ours, Montserrat, need to attend Sunday Mas to have their souls and their tongues cleansed.
I sat amused and bewildered equally whilst listening to the Viewpoint programme on ZJB last night as the "saviour" of Montserrat, Reuben T Meade spoke. The more Reuben spoke, Mr Editor, the more I was tempted to reach for my Bible and some holy water to drive up to ZJB Radio and pray over the delusional rantings of Meade and his gang.
Mr Editor, as I listened to the Opposition radio program, hosted by the assumed journalist, Jermaine Wade, I cannot say I was totally surprised by the fact they were for the most part rehashing the same old tired falsehoods and half-truths from a year ago. Afterall that is what Oppositions do.
However, I listened in sheer consternation as I heard the MCAP talking heads try to portray the notion that DFID having conditions tied to the aid budget is something new. Seriously gentlemen? Calypso’s were written about this during your time in office. You forget?
It is not so much the Reuben was opposing the government that drew my ire, but the fact that it was he, Reuben T Meade, the man who caused 3/4 of the problems this new government is now facing why Montserrat is in the mess it is in.
Let me speak to him directly here, Mr Editor. Permit me please:
"Reuben T Meade, you and your MCAPites screwed over this country of ours when you were in office. Now you have the nerve to come and pretend to be our saviour? We got rid of you for a reason Reuben and you will be consigned to political death because of how you screwed over Montserrat!. Yes You Reuben."
So now do not come acting as if you have the answers. Premier Romeo may be having his issues, but besides your MCAP friends, no one wants you. Not even Peter Queeley who sat beside you last night wants you back as leader of this country with your partisan politics.
Folks as I listened to ZJB Radio, Reuben T Meade and his gang pilloried the current Premier Romeo for embracing the concept of Public Sector Reform. What a novel idea… Not!
Are we the people of Montserrat so absent minded and forgetful that we do not remember that as per DFID instructions, and under Reuben T. Meade when he was in power, a new government department was created called the Public Service Reform Unit (PSRU)? The department was later disbanded because again the MCAP government had to cut the civil service headcount as per DFID mandates. The program itself did not go away however, and it became PSRII.
Right now the discussion is about funding for PSRIII. Yes, the continuation of a program made popular and started by none other than the man on the radio cursing last night, Reuben T Meade.
I say made popular, because no other leader prior to Meade was willing to introduce the austerity measures demanded by DFID. It was Reuben T Meade who gleefully cut civil servant’s increments and froze the pay of Civil Servants when DFID told him to. Yes you Reuben! You did that. Not Romeo.
Meade made his customary attempt at humor by saying that Romeo said what the Governor told him to say. On cue comes the juvenile giggling from the grown men in the studio with him. But serious people won’t forget who did what he was told and took bread out of the mouths of the lowest paid Civil Servants. Reuben T Meade.
PDM came in and immediately moved to give people the money they deserve, and Meade still begrudges a secretary $70.00 extra on her pay. The miserable old man says 200K for increments will turn into 1 Million in 5 years. So What?
If the move is to give all employees Increments based on performance, and if we expect most if not all workers to perform to their best ability, then the budget would be much higher. So why the forked tongue? So what really is the argument against increments other than just being nasty and bad-minded?
Someone should sit down with Meade and explain to him that the Economics 101 they keep mentioning, tells you that every penny you give to people in the lowest income brackets gets spent immediately back into the economy.
It galls me when people try to rewrite history as Reuben, Wade, Taylor-Farrell and Queeley attempted to do on Viewpoint, because some sections of the population tend to believe them.
But accurate History will show that MCAP passed a new Constitution Order in 2010 and were well aware of its provisions. Yet they did not lift a finger in 3 plus years to regularize the post and remuneration of the Auditor General in line with the Constitution.
Now that it was done by the PDM government, Meade is grandstanding and pretending he is the champion of poor people children. Meade also had the opportunity to hire the Acting Financial Secretary to the substantive post, but he could not bring himself to do it, for reasons only he alone knows. I will not get into speculation; but when he tells people that Skerritt had the position blocked so he couldn’t hire Brade; he is being less than forthcoming with the truth and he knows it too. What a man!
They pretended on air last night as if consultancies and consultants are a new phenomenon; and they would prefer if we did not know that under their MCAP administration there was a consultant at MDC making a million dollars a year! Yes Reuben allowed that under his rule. Now hear him talking from the other side of his mouth. Believe it or Leave it folks. Scores of Consultants and scores of non-montserratians worked under the Meade administration in all levels of government. It is dishonest of him or anyone to say otherwise.
Mr Editor, there was also the now familiar refrain of no ‘Foreign Direct Investment’ from the crew in the studios last evening. Ok fine. Let’s go back and look at the trend.
How many new investors set up business in Montserrat during the 5 years 2009 to 2014 under the MCAP Regime?
Let us quickly mention the Tobacco Factory and forget it in the same breath for the major disappointment it turned out to be.
Ok, now let's list the others:......
You are having trouble right?
But in the event you came up with one or two other minor ones. Is that what MCAP is holding out as the benchmark? That is how fantastically well they did in 7 years?
Yes 7 Years, because they were in government with Dr Lewis from 2007 to 2009; then Doctor Lewis fired them due to their inefficiency, and had early elections; after which they assumed full control from 2009 to 2014.
The simple move by the PDM Administration to assist Vue Pointe Hotel in reopening, could (volcano permitting) reap more benefits to the economy than any Investor MCAP could claim to have brought in over the 5 years.
7 Years in power and no Foreign Direct Investments to speak of. Yet they want the people of Montserrat to remove PDM after 1 year and put them back in?
Where are their Chinese investors? Wasted.
Where are their Dubai investors? Did Meade sell Montserrat short by saying to these Dubai investors he claimed were ready to invest, that they should not any longer invest if it is not him and his boys in power?
Where are the investors Reuben? You said they were ready to invest in Montserrat so where are they? Is this how you show commitment to Montserrat's future by telling them to back away and no longer invest? Is this how you show you love poor people's children and providing opportunities for them to make money? Laughable!
They now come on ZJB, and Meade is playing his style of dirty politics by pretending he cares about Montserrat when all he really wants is to get back in power.
Let them wait for that day to come. What they need to focus on is the impending MCAP infighting to come.
Mr Queeley does not want you as leader Reuben. Jermaine Wade does not want you, Mr Queeley, to take over what he feels is his right to lead MCAP either. Go fix that mess in your party gentlemen, and leave Montserrat to people who truly care about poor people's children.
You lot ruined our country so now efforts are being made to fix your mess, the people of this island are not stupid nor forgetful as you all are assuming by your obvious tactics on ZJB Radio last night.
What a desperate and delusional bunch!
