Prime Minister Ralph Gonsalves has again urged state agencies not to compartmentalise as the country rebuilds after the Christmas disaster, saying that the nation is at war with nature.
“In a disaster, what we are having really, is that nature, in a sense, is at war with us; we are at war with nature too, because we are always tampering with nature, because we have to come to terms with nature in order to have sophisticated life and living,” Gonsalves said at a press conference on Monday.
He said that in the “old days” Kingstown had a lot of tree, and that development is tampering with nature.
“And, in the forest, we tamper with nature to our peril,” he said.
He spoke of the planting of bananas above 1,000 contour and ganja farmers who cut down trees and leave the log lying around.
“… as you see many logs in the river, half a log, many often they were cut by farmers who treat the forest indiscriminately,” Gonsalves said.
Fast-flowing water turned logs into battering rams that inflicted extensive damage to homes and other infrastructure.
“And I say this to you, whether you want to believe it or not, … man may forgive, women may forgive, the good Lord forgives once we repent, but nature doesn’t forgive. Nature is unforgiving and what you put in is what you are going to get out with nature,” he said.
“Now, I am sure that there are persons who will make certain amendments to that statement, and refine it, and provide subtleties to it. Well, that’s fine with me. I could make those amendments and subtleties, but I want to make the point in a dramatic way: human beings forgive, … and the good Lord will forgive, … but nature … has an unforgiving disposition,” Gonsalves said.
The government failing to arrange the removal of logs from rivers after being advised of such a threat four years ago, its not an act of nature, it is akin to assisting an enemy against SVG.
They were clearly warned and chose not to act, mainly because they are broke.
This government should be locked up and charged with manslaughter.
This is typically Ralph using floury languages to get sound bites and the “chattering nabobs” always give it to him.
Clean up the rivers and pass environmental laws to protect the forest and to keep the rivers clean and stop talking foolishness. If you cant do these things, you will be whipped by the same Nature until you do.
You see this is the problem, all opposition is seen by PM Gonsalves as war, something that requires aggression to subdue or conquer it. Well that may well be his stance and adopted treatment for political opposition but with nature that cannot possibly work. You cannot be at war with nature, you must try and be in harmony with nature. You must truly adopt a ‘together now’ policy. Remember that false cry in an attempt to fool the ignorant and the Diasporians., together now.
Nature has been driving our planet since the beginning of time, millions of years before man and certainly much longer than the ULP. Making a policy to create a people who warmonger against nature just shows the idiocy of the man that demands such. Because if you take on nature you cannot win, it will destroy you.
All the floodings during the last ten years have been caused by tree stumps and logs in the rivers. The floods were then magnified by the failure of this government to clear them on a daily, weekly basis, all year round.