Grenada’s full joy comes in the night under a half-moon

ST GEORGE'S: Grenada saved its best for last -- and in terms of the ECCB Netball Series, for too late - but still their joy came in the night under the glow of a half-moon.

As they eked out a one-goal win over St. Vincent and the Grenadines 64 -63, their play was clearer, as the threatening gloom of the early evening gave way to allow a fitting finale to a tournament that had its starts and stops, compliments of the rainy season.

Grenada looked like a different team from the one that had slumped to a depressing and disappointing loss the night before at the hands of lower-ranked St Lucia.

For most of the tournament, the home team looked a step behind; they huffed and puffed against Barbados but did not blow the house down; and then, a Lavalas of indecision and tentative defense had them washed away by an improving Cayman Islands.

Saturday night was as bad as it could have been, with St Lucia defeating them 50-48 – a scoreline that flattered to deceive, given how disappointingly the home team played.

The result of that night threatened to turn what was set up to be, from the outset, a marquee clash against St Vincent and the Grenadines into an anti-climactic nightmare.

It was, however, anything but.

What the crowd was served in the end was the best game of the tournament.

Each time Lottysha Cato (56 goals), suddenly looking like a born-again attacker, aimed for the net, the bench shouted – just one shot.

An aggressive Grenada came out of the blocks flying – and by the end of the night, they got the one win, which, if it did not come, could have well led to a Tanteen summer of recriminations.

Grenada led by six points after the first quarter (17-11), but St Vincent and the Grenadines steadied themselves in the second, to whittle down the deficit as Grenada led by one.

St Vincent and the Grenadines had its best quarter in the fourth, scoring 20 in a 100 percent shooting masterclass under pressure, to Grenada’s 12.

For some period, it looked like Grenadian hearts would be broken again – but they held on – using their last center-pass to play around for time, until the seconds ran out – and then the final whistle became the moment.

St Vincent and the Grenadines were overall OECS Champions – winning on goal difference, or perhaps more accurately, on the goal attack of Mary-Ann Frederick, the tournament’s top scorer and overall MVP.

Her 92 percent overall shooting in the nine days was the best by a long shot.

Grenada placed second, leading to rue what might have been, if they had a Saturday night close to the one they had on Sunday.

But the joy of the night was strong enough to last until morning.

 

 

 It’s a sham, and a farce!

How the NNP Convention is not a legitimate exercise

ARCHIE BAIN, the last known Chairman of the NNP St George’s North West Constituency Group, and the manager of Dr Keith Mitchell’s last re-election campaign there, calls the entire arrangement for next Sunday’s party convention – a sham.

   I had also described it to a friend only a few hours before I saw his post – a farce.

   I knew what both words meant – without the need for any further reference – but in the circumstances – I wanted to be so exact – so I looked them up.

 

 Sham - a thing that is not what it is purported to be.

 Farce - a comic dramatic work using buffoonery and horseplay; (and in another instance) - an absurd event.

 

  The pending NNP convention has indeed nose-dived into both – a sham and a farce. And take that from Dr Mitchell’s campaign manager on the one hand, and his three-time campaign strategist on the other.

    And it is very unfortunate, though in many ways understandable, how this whole situation has been “personalized” – as if it is about Doc, or Peter or Emmalin.

    The subject of national debate is about something bigger than any one of them; it is about the state of the body politic – whether these three are at the center of it or not; it is whether our political processes are worthy of the times in which it should serve.

   It brings into question whether the New National Party – as it is currently (un)constituted – and whether it is led by Mitchell, Pierre or David – can be trusted ultimately to govern with accountability, and transparency; whether it can be trusted to be the defenders of democracy and fair play.

   Those are deep fundamental questions that the people of Grenada must ponder in the weeks and months ahead.

  What is in motion here is the de-legitimization of the NNP – as a credible force for good; an inexplicable act of political arson by Dr Mitchell himself.

   On a podcast on Friday night, Doc opined that what is happening in the lead up to next Sunday’s convention is nothing different to what they have done in the past 40 years.

   Given what we know and see now, it is a very damning self-assessment.

   He was right in one instance though – and wrong in the other.

   What is happening now with the gerrymandering and the underhand picking of delegates began from the very first NNP convention in 1984.

   And I know because it was not anything I read in a book, or a story that was told to me by someone. It happened to me.

   I was scheduled to be a delegate in the very first convention – supposedly one of the youngest.

    Under the NNP constitution, which still stands today – each group from each polling division gets to select two delegates for its convention.

   In 1984, representing the polling division CO2 (that’s upper Munich) were Hamlet Mark and Shirley McMillan.

    Those names were duly submitted.

   When we showed up at the convention, our names were not on the list – replaced completely by two different people, who were not even members of our group, much less qualified to be delegates.

    I was editor then of The National newspaper – which was the party organ, so I had close contacts with the people at the headquarters.

  When I asked them the Monday after – whatever happened to Shirley and my name – the ladies told me, Dr Mitchell (who was the general secretary designate and the one organizing for the convention) had asked that we be removed because we were “George Brizan people.”

 PS: That was the only 14 months of my life that I “did party.”

   And as a humorous side note – from the people I now see around the NNP – only Doc and Larry Joseph I remembered from that convention. Talk about “the belly of NNP?” – ah dee dey before Gregory Bowen and Peter David and Emmalin Pierre et al. (Maybe I should join back and run for leader then, having come from the belly?)

    But back to the main point - Doc is an experienced hand at fixing party conventions.

   Nowhere is it more bold-faced this time than in St Patrick’s East, St Patrick's West and St Andrew’s North West.

   I hope Wayne James makes it back on the list for St Andrew’s North West after Lorina Waldron was told to remove him because there is “some doubt” as to how he will vote. (Pastor Lewis you safe too?)

   The other thing Doc was not correct in his assertion however – that this is how it was done all the time – was in relation to the leadership contest.

   In NNP’s history there was only one leadership contest ever – when Keith Mitchell challenged Herbert Blaize and won in 1989.

   Mitchell’s nomination came from the floor (and rightly so), even though Blaize had asked him hours before if the “rumor” was true, and he skirted around giving him a direct answer.

   There was never some arbitrary committee which “screened” or “approved” potential leadership candidates; and there was nothing banning nominations from the floor.

  Doc was fairly the beneficiary of that.

   This time, in maneuvers directed by Doc himself, there is a Screening Committee, and there is the banning of nominations from the floor.

   As far as I understand, David’s campaign has asked for a list of the delegates that should have been finalized on Monday. He has been refused access to that list.

   How does someone go into an election – any election – for national or even boy scout and they cannot get to see, peruse and canvass the electors’ list?

    The protestations of the likes of Archie Bain and Prescot Swan, longstanding allies of Dr Mitchell, are telling.

   The frustration from me – someone Doc had enough confidence even as a teenager to ask my advice about challenging Blaize (which by the way I advised against) – comes from 10 years ago, when in speaking about how to strengthen his legacy, was the idea proffered about deepening the democracy in the party.  I tried to argue then (unsuccessfully) how that in the long term can strengthen both his hand and that of the party.

 

That was 2014.

 

Forget 2014 -- 2024 now looks a hell of a lot like 1984; all over again!

 

 

PS: Martin Luther King once wrote from the Birmingham jail: "Injustice anywhere is a threat to justice everywhere. We are caught in an inescapable network of mutuality, tied in a single garment of destiny. Whatever affects one directly, affects all indirectly." 

 

‘I don’t do party, drugs and gays!’

Why I am not ready to make nice in a losing attempt to save NNP, Emmalin and Peter

 

IN THIS ONGOING debate about the New National Party leadership, transition and all other assorted issues, have I personally not endorsed anyone for leader.

  I don’t think it is useful or desirable.

  I just thought the point had to be made, after a mutual friend of ours sent me a “how dare you” whatsapp note, suggesting that I have turned my back on one good friend Emmalin Pierre for another good friend Peter David.

   Emmalin, Peter and whoever else -- paid-up member of the NNP -- have a right to aspire and run for leadership – or for that matter – any other position of the party – in an open, fair and transparent contest.

   In fact, incumbent leader Keith Mitchell has a right to change his mind and declare he will run again too. Nothing’s wrong with even changing your mind. We all do that sometimes.

   On the personal level, you never take sides when your sister and brother are in the same contest. That doesn’t mean you don’t harbor reservations, and will use your back channels to convey those, outside of social media chatter and click-bait declarations.

   Both Emmalin Celina Frank-Pierre and Peter Charles David have a rich history of ignoring my advice anyway – which is their respectful right. They are in the kitchen, not me. So, I always concede that.
    

  In my view, neither of them should take part in the unfolding farce. But I suspect again, they will both disregard this latest advice.

   My ongoing concern and criticism have been about the virtual hijack of all organs of the party, and the internal coup carried out against its democratic processes by the “general”, and that which is shamefully aided and abetted by a handful of enablers who will whisper discontent, but in meetings where it counts, nod their heads in agreement of Doc’s action. Even when he dares whoever disagrees to take him to court!

   And it is not just the undemocratic illegal acts, but how that very process sets up the party for failure in the next general election.

   I get it; that in this environment, most people tend to personalize, every comment and every position, while missing the broader principle of the debate.

   If you complain about the lack of transparency and democracy, some will declare you’re taking someone’s side or campaigning against someone.

   But I dare say, watching all this unfolds: Quos Deus vult perdere, prius dementat. For Whom the gods would destroy, they first make mad, (William Anderson Scott – 1854).

    A delegate NNP member and hardcore supporter from birth from the Happy Hill (my second home) area, forwarded me a whatsapp message that he was sending around to fellow party members and delegates. It made useful reading, and with his permission, I publish here unedited in italics:

 

"You folks are really undermining your own. You may not support Peter or whoever for party leadership but to have a campaign to swift boat and  destabilize him is unbecoming. Let whoever the delegates vote to be the leader, be the leader. Remember, after the convention, you’ve a party to build back and an election to win. Keep on eating your own. I’m an NNP supporter and will always be but what I’m seeing here and the fake pages on FB is a big turn off. I’m not dumb. So stop trying to dumb us down. The party machinery is out now to destroy one of your own."

   A few months ago, when Emmalin declared she was running for leadership, weeks after Peter did – a good friend called me and asked “well who will you back now.?

    And my response, without skipping a beat, or even previously thinking about it was: Democracy.

   I have always maintained that the process must be open and fair, devoid of personal attacks – and then everyone should rally afterwards around the person who comes out the winner.

    It was always a long shot however that this would have happened, knowing the mindset of the general.

   The question must be asked aloud though: Given all that has gone in the recent weeks – what kind of party will either Peter or Emmalin “inherit?”

   Is it fair to them all? Or has Doc, with his shenanigans, soaked up all the oxygen and possibly irreparably damaged a movement?

   I am worried for both Emmalin and Peter for in some ways different, and yet, the same reasons.

    The sameness is that they are being undone by Doc; Peter by being treated as a leper for being “too fast” to say he wants to run for leader; Emmalin because she is once again being set up by Doc in a grand machiavellian scheme.
   

  While I am usually right about those things – I pray for her that I am wrong this time – but my projection is Emmalin may “become” leader in a week, but would not be the one to lead the party in the next elections.

   Moving the convention now from the Trade Centre to the SAASS grounds in Telescope brings the coronation ceremony right to Emmalin’s back yard. It would have been a nice touch only if she was not being handed a crown of thorns.

   She will have to develop a new ruthlessness to stand up against any Doc inspired ‘palace coup’ a little over a year from now. (Will this be at the Happy Hill School convention next year?)

   Doc of the “you see man” and “give me the thing its mine” varieties still covets Mt Wheldale and those two black vehicles. He has not gotten over the fact that he was beaten by “them little children,” and is determined in his attempt to go out on top.

    He has plotted an old-man comeback ala Donald Trump. Notice that he once again tagged along his saintly mother to the failed rally last Sunday, to make the very same point he tried to in the election campaign: You see genes!?

   A retiring politician would refuse to be fascinated with declaring “I never get weary yet.”

  If he sincerely believes this is Emma’s time, pull away from the spotlight. Trade Ajamu for Seargent H. On Sunday forget the “them ah go tired to see me face,” dance, and ensure that not another Bad Card is played. Having been the one to add the ‘Can’t Sit Down’ to his campaign playlist, I will love to propose a new track: Retirement Day

 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lmBJ-beXaW0

   As Doc embarks on his personal vanity project, he threatens to undermine the long political prospects at the constituency levels of younger people such as Emmalin and Kate Lewis.

   Kinda Mathurin Stewart and Delma Thomas quickly recognized he was up to no political good – and felt they had to be freed from that yoke of political vindictiveness, pettiness and salacious rumour planting. Pamela Moses wanted to quickly forget she was ever associated with that political character flaw. (A flaw that could not even bring him to attend the funeral of Pam’s mother).

    Where do you go with a man who touts the youth when its expedient and convenient – but stabs his two youngest senators because they had enough political morality to advocate against the scripted histrionics they were being schooled in pushing in the senate?

   I respect Emmalin and Peter’s position to stay and fight it out. But in time we will see how this turns out. Peter, maybe sooner than Emmalin. But both!

  Every human being will be nervous, when they see their siblings, niblings or brethrens walking into a wedding with a bad woman.

   Twenty-four years ago last month, on a November Friday afternoon, as the sun was going down relatively early, and while standing on the slight incline in the junction next to the Bakery close to the Tanteen playing field, with the odd vehicle passing by as if on the road to nowhere, a member of Doc’s cabinet then said something to me, which every now and then resurrects in my brain.

   I vividly remember the use of the phrase: “That Cat…”

   He said: “That Cat cares about no one in his political calculations. He will sell his wife and his son if he has to, if he thinks that will advance him politically.”

   At that time, I told the West Coast Major that he was being tough in his assessment of his boss. In long hindsight, he was right.

   “That cat” has not changed.

   Not that I did not know it. I refused to even think about it that way. It’s like taking a painkiller to numb the pain.

    A few years ago, when a good friend approached me  with a form for signing up to join the NNP, my joking, yet serious quip to him was that: “I don’t do Party, drugs and gays. Anything else is negotiable.”

   Maybe negotiable yes, but realistically for now, on this Sunday, I am in my Dixie Chicks moment.

   I am not ready to make nice!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pojL_35QlSI

 

 

I'm not ready to make nice
I'm not ready to back down
I'm still mad as hell and I don't have time
To go 'round and 'round and 'round
It's too late to make it right
I probably wouldn't if I could
'Cause I'm mad as hell, can't bring myself
To do what it is you think I should