Cocktails at the Mannings

As the meeting gets underway and the stakeholders outline their requirements, it becomes increasingly clear that the demand for space on the grounds is already at its optimum and the only response we have is that “there is no ground to give” literally and figuratively.

I hear a voice asking: “Why are we meeting at this location? I thought we had a meeting room at the Medical Clinic which the community operates in the Ministry of Community Development across the road?”

The reply from one of the doctors on that committee is: “Ever since the first meeting we held, to protest the action of the Prime Minister in wanting to take the Grounds, the locks on the door have been changed and instructions are that we cannot hold meetings there.

“Every Saturday, the doctors are at the behest of the authorities to open the clinic to serve the less fortunate in the community and the opening of the clinic has not been reliable.”

Another voice from around the table adds: “Our football club, Superstar Rangers has always had the cooperation of the Ministry of Agriculture in cutting the grass on the grounds.

“Now, they are refusing to do it, so hundreds of footballers not only from our club but from all over, now have to deal with ankle high grass on which to train.”

And I am saying to myself, here we stand against the might of our own “caring Government” which is intent on doing a truly great and unnecessary injustice to its citizens who have no alternative but to fight for the betterment of their community and their fellowmen, in a peaceful, democratic protest.

Just think of the following scenario, two years from now, when the elaborate house is finished and the occupants moved in.

“The Mannings and their Cabinet colleagues are sitting in their magnificent porch, sipping cocktails and enjoying their 40 million dollar beautifully landscaped and manicured 13 acres of surroundings, while the thousands who live in this valley search for somewhere to play.”

The reality is — a family of four persons must deprive an entire community of its only recreation space.

We are in urgent need of a government that genuinely considers and cares for its people.