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Cornelius JOhn on crutches
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By Green Hill

On Friday, June 25, when I saw Comrade John hobbling to the courthouse on crutches, it hit me that this could be me. It could have been anyone of us who supported our party and our government for many years.

I have to admit that the thought of that had never come to my mind. The people who seem to be making our country look bad, are always those aligned to the NDP. At least, that’s the first thing I always saw because, truthfully, it is what we’ve been made to believe and accept as told to us by our comrade leader. We never really paid any attention to the issue.

If it wasn’t about making the country look bad, then they were “Ralph haters”. With those things in mind, I’m just accustomed to dismissing them as rabble-rousers. I ignored the Bigger Bigs issue regarding his lands; I ignored the Toussaint and De Freitas issues. I ignored the Three NDP Teachers too and the many other issues that came up over the years. They were all just trying to bring down the comrade. That was the thought. In 2011 when protests erupted, partly over the changing of the laws to seek permission from the DPP to bring private charges against someone, I didn’t bother with that either.

It was just a bunch of NDP people blowing things out of proportion because they hate Ralph. My party is in power. This is not an NDP government. I don’t have anything to worry about, or so I thought.

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Now, I am worried. As a long-time party member and supporter, I am worried, deeply. I thought these things only happened to NDP people, and I didn’t care if it did; but here it is that one of our own comrades finds himself in the same position that I never once thought would happen to us.

What’s bothering me too is that those who are fighting for him are not members of his ULP family. It’s mostly NDP people I’m seeing offering support. How could this be? I know many of us are afraid to speak publicly. We call each other privately and talk, but never publicly. Truth be told, we don’t want to make our party look bad. The last two elections, I received building materials too, like many of our party supporters, and I can visit the office whenever I need something. I even send other people to get help.

I tell you if I got two hours of sleep Friday night, I got plenty. To see our own comrade limping to court and the way things going, it’s a hard one to swallow. I did not expect this to happen to one of ours, and now that this issue has hit home, I don’t know if I can exchange the material things that I get for equal rights and justice. It is not right, and I must think long and hard about how I vote in the future. That’s if I decide to vote again.

I love my party and the comrade, but I cannot support this in good conscience. This is not right.  We have to change course. What’s going on here is not right.

The opinions presented in this content belong to the author and may not necessarily reflect the perspectives or editorial stance of iWitness News. Opinion pieces can be submitted to [email protected].

8 replies on “It is not right. It could be me”

  1. RISE HAIROUNA says:

    Wish you would understand that this issue affects all Vincentians. Justice must prevail. Not sure how you could love your comrade who was accused of rape and sexual assault on a number of occasions.

  2. Wow! As i am sat here reading this it highlights the current slavery still present in our country. It seems to be party first, as a god fearing country i thought “I was my brother’s keeper”. I feel so disturbed by the way we treat each other and hence we can never advance as a nation. It is time people called our wrongs and praised right regardless of party allegiances.

    May god be with us all!

  3. gilbertsnuts says:

    It takes guts to admit to such wrongs and accepting building materials prior to an election is the acceptance of a bribe to vote in a certain way.

    The problem is with dictatorship, .the dictator has to be ruthless with consideration only to themselves and family, total disregard to any follower who steps out of line.

  4. Helter George says:

    Mr Green Hill those are just a few of what you are aware of. We have victimization to the fullest here. Remember keep most of the the people poor and then you can control the masses. We practice the doctrines of Cuba and Venezuela, so most of us think. OPEN YOUR EYES!!

  5. Rhonda Dickson Servant of the Most High God. says:

    There is a prophetic word that was pronounced in April 3rd 2005 concerning this nation of SVG.
    Ezekiel chapter 3 :17 – 21 declares ;
    3;17 Son of man , I have made thee a watchman unto the house of Israel, therefore hear the word at my mouth ,and give them warning from me.
    3; 18 When I say unto the wicked ,Thou shalt surely die; and thou givest Him not warning , nor speaketh to warn the wicked from his wicked way .to save his life; the same wicked man shall die in his iniquity ; but his blood will I require at thine hand.
    3;19 Yet if thou warn the wicked and he turned not from his wickedness , nor from his wicked way, he shall die in his iniquity ; but thou hast delivered thy soul.
    3 ;20 Again , when a righteous man doth turn from his righteousness, and commit iniquity ,and I lay a stumbling block before him ,he shall die: because thou hast not given him warning, he shall die in his sin and his righteousness which he hath done shall not be remembered; but his blood will i require at thine hand.
    We are all in need of repentance .Let us seek it before it is too late. We all have sinned and come short of the glory of God.

  6. Lately I have been hearing people that until recently were ULP and they are now saying that is over. They will not vote for them again. It should be a wake-up call for the Comrade to know what his manipulations have done for his party. It is not difficult to see what has been created here. We live in a country, like the UK or the USA, that is described as a “Democracy”, (which by definition does not exist). SVG now does not even have the appearance of a “Democracy”. This case of unequal justice and the land takeover are some of the most shocking things lately. I care nothing for what the party says it is or pretends to be. I care what it accomplishes and looking at these two occurrences as well as the MASS UNEMPLOYMENT and BAD ROADS is just more evidence. The decline of public buildings and roads is going to cost the taxpayers over 500 million dollars just to catch-up to where we should be, but there is so much more. What bothers me most is that I am just tired of being fooled over and over again and this court case is a stark example of what the government can do to us no matter how right we are and how wrong they are.
    Frightening does not begin to describe it.

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