CATEGORY:COMMENTARY ----------------------- INSIDE GRENADA SUNDAY October 28,2007 by Lloyd Noel As one travels along the main roads now-a-days, especially on the Western side where I travel daily - the filling of pot holes, paving of sections of bad areas, and the building of retaining walls on the sea side, are very much in evidence all the way from St. John to St. George, and all very welcome at this time. Some of the damaged Seaside walls and banks have been in that state for years, so the repairs are long overdue. But seeing them all getting attention at the same time, makes one wonder whether it is only because the date for Elections is now in the Prime Minister’s head - as he recently informed the nation in response to the Poll. Whatever the cause or reasons for the flurry of action on the roads, vehicle drivers have no problems when the ladies controlling the traffic have to stop one side to allow the other side to flow. Those temporary roadblocks are obviously necessary, to help ensure we get the better and safer roads we are always clamoring for - to protect the safety of the people and facilitate comfortable travel. But using the physical roads as a kind of Bench mark in our daily lives - as they relate to the many struggles, tribal and national confrontation, political and religious upheavals, and the Worldwide problems people are faced with on a daily basis; and because those in control and authority Worldwide, are always talking about this or that “road map” as the yardstick for their proposals and solution, it makes one wonder in frustration why we encounter so many un-necessary “road blocks” on those road maps. Take the recent furore between the Ministry of Health and the Grenada Bar Association - over the issue of suspected Tuberculosis cases at Her Majesty Prison at Richmond Hill - when it was discovered that so many persons had tested positive (over 20) - after a routine screening test ordered by a Doctor at the Prison, after an in-mate returned to the Prison from Hospital where he was undergoing test for the disease. The official blocks, in refusing to undertake the further chest X-Rays, were so un-necessary and un-professional that they defied simple logic among the population. The many persons who called me, or met me on the road to express their concerns - after the GBN T/V programme on Monday night last week - could not begin to understand why those in authority were behaving the way they did. Those persons found it so un-necessary, that they too felt there was some ulterior motive in the whole charade. Because the Judges of the High Court had taken the decision, at the opening of the Assizes on the 9th October, that no prisoner awaiting trial should have been brought to Court in that first week - until those who were found to be positive had received the Chest X-Rays, to ensure they were not active - both Judges and the Registrar met with the CMO and the Hospital Services Director, on Friday 12th October to clarify the position as then existing. The Bar Association - a delegation thereof - met with the Judges on Monday last week, as a follow-up after the opening of Assizes. At that meeting we were informed that the authorities had agreed on the Friday before, to Chest X-Ray (17) Seventeen of the 20 inmates who were tested positive, on the Saturday 13th October, and report back on Wednesday 17th October. One Prisoner was due for release on the said Saturday 13th, so he was not tested, and the other two of the Twenty were Prison Officers. It was also agreed, according to the Judges at our Monday meeting, that all the other prisoners at the Prison would be screen tested, and those found to be positive would receive Chest X-Rays. The Bar Association again met with the Judges on Friday 19th October - a red letter day in our torrid history, that shocked the World (24yrs) Twenty-Four years ago - and the report from the Health authorities was that the Seventeen tested were not actively infected. The decision then was that those from the original (64) Sixty-four who were screen tested - could now come to Court when they had Cases for trial. But the very same night (Friday 19th ), there was the Attorney General Elvin Nimrod - on T/V, telling the Nation that the whole thing was a storm in a tea-cup (my interpretation of his words), and the entire issue was now behind us and the Country could move ahead with its Tourism programme. Up to last Friday, there was no word that any of the other 319 inmates at the Prison, or any of the other over 100 Prison officers, had been screen tested as the officials had agreed to do - but the Attorney General dictated that the issue was behind us. And he, and his reckless colleagues and Health Officials are the ones who are calling members of the Bar irresponsible and trying to derail the Tourism Industry. The Bar Association, as a responsible and dedicated organization, operating both in the interests of its members and the public at large - regardless of the political likes or dislikes of John public - will continue to monitor this issue and take whatever appropriate action its members deem fit and necessary, as the situation demands. As for the ups and downs, and un-necessary political roadblocks the powers-that-be are daily manufacturing, to try and make people believe that they have some monopoly on common sense and reasonable understanding of very basic and down-to-earth issues - time and the unfolding events will eventually tell the real tale. Too many un-necessary “road blocks” along the accepted road map that fashions our social and political ways forward, are cropping up with indecent and worrying frequency; and the lingering fall outs, and sour tastes and smells that accompany those very un-necessary road blocks, are quite unbearable and intolerable. In situations like the TB issue, and the circumstances that we all know are ever-present in the very vulnerable prison surrounding, we cannot wait for someone to become actively infected - and even worse yet, for anyone to pass to the great beyond - before taking the necessary precautions to stem an epidemic. In any language, and irrespective of the political affiliations, it is far, far better to be safe and wrong, than to be careless or reckless and sorry. Prevention is always very much better, than finding a cure. So get cracking, you “No Nonsense Pretenders”, and put everyone’s minds at ease without further ado. And thinking and talking about more general roadblocks, in the political road map that will shape our actions and behavior patterns in the weeks and months ahead - the news broke last week, that GULP Executive, which Mrs. Gloria Payne-Banfield had labeled as being un-constitutionally elected, they had moved to expel her as a member of the party. That action came soon after Mr. Bernard Jones - the ex-PLM Deputy political Leader - had approached Payne-Banfield with a view of joining her arm of the embattled GULP Executive. And while all the above bits and pieces and on-going drama, have been hitting the headlines in one form or another - the NDC put on a very impressive show at the Grand Beach Convention Centre in Grand Anse, to mark the Twentieth Anniversary since that party arrived on the political scene. The audience was an impressive one and showed great appreciation for the opposition Political Leader’s very well delivered Blue Print, for the changing of the power guards that the party is striving for. It was good to see the not-so-old stalwarts, in Messrs. Joan Purcell and George Brizan, coming out in support of the new guys on the block, who are aiming to capture the reins of power, and turn the tide around to bring back political sanity and transparently good and stable Government to our once flourishing and dedicated people. And since we have celebrated (24yrs) Twenty Four years since those torrid days of October 1983 - it is still amazing that so many people either did not know, or do not want to know, what took place in those days; and more importantly, what was taking place in the weeks, and months and years before those days. Those persons who lost family members on the 19th and 25th October, 1983, still continue to close their eyes to reality - and try to pretend that the good guys and gals died on the 19th, and the bad men and one woman ended up in prison. And it is an empty plea, that the reason for their continued suffering is their failure to obtain the bodies, to afford them a “Christian” burial and so bring closure to that sorry period in our history. They know only too well that the bodies were burnt in a hole in Calivigny, and some parts thereof were recovered by American and Caribbean Soldiers a day or two after 25th October, 1983, and taken wherever for tests. That evidence was given in the Case of the (18) Eighteen, at the makeshift Court in the Lyons Building at Richmond Hill in 1984/86. So what bodies are they asking for to give such “Christian” burial? And while they searching for the answers may be they can also answer the many questions pertaining to those killed and tortured in and out of detention - by their very same “Christian” loved ones - and their whereabouts still unknown. But then again those were “Counters”, so they deserve to be eliminated without trace; what tomfoolery and hypocrisy? Because of the Christian virtues and principles they are always professing, or putting forward as the basis for their continued suffering - they would be well advised to utilize that Christianity to accept and demonstrate Reconciliation, and the closure would be complete for all “Trespasses” - those for and those against us all. It remains my considered opinion, that those family members and friends who are persisting with their hate Campaign about missing bodies and denial of Justice - even after all those years of incarceration of the seventeen - they are simply erecting “roadblocks”, on the road map that should be taking us into a new lease of genuine Christian living, for peace, and forgiveness, and that love of our neighbor as we love ourselves - that He taught us all about. The time for change, in so many aspects of our life, is long overdue; those un-necessary “road blocks” are merely prolonging the inevitable.