Again, for reasons too numerous to mention, here I am not voting for the UDP this election. With that out of the way, I have to ask when the UDPeez will get the sense that corruption is one mote, one madabig log, that political leaders must take out of their eyes before they dare look at the rest of us and point the accusatory finger. Madaz, this should be common sense.

I didn’t get to listen to the entire virtual UDP manifesto presentation last week, and I have to hope that what I missed wasn’t worse than what I heard when I tuned in. Incredibly, impossibly, those heartless bohgaz regurgitated that shameless attack on those of us who stumble at times, and they can’t be allowed to get away with that fraud. They won’t, but before we go there I have to call out AG Pere for having the gall at the virtual presentation to talk about the importance of forensics in the control of crime.

Ah, I remember well, it was back in 2008. The announcement about forensics was made at a grand gathering, where the candidates were introduced to the fanatic section as if they were contestants on the American show, The Price is Right. You know the one where the contestants answer some questions and the one who comes out on top gets to hear the show master say, “Mr. or Miss So-and-So, Come on Down.”

Ah, that night when the little UDPeez who have become so big ran onto the grand stage to the sounds of their rally song, I was aghast, in disbelief, looking at the stage lights, but when you think on it, it really wasn’t too far off the mark. The treasury was not too lean, and the winning candidates, we should have known, were salivating at the sweets. We know the rest of the story. They came down, and the way they raided and squandered the little savings and the little earnings we had, one had to suspect they were in glee to be rid of the tightfisted Esquivel.

I can’t recall the venue, but oh, I recall how my little heart that had been made despondent by the PUP of 1998 to 2008, how it leapt inside my breast when I heard the wonderful things in the manifesto to rescue Belize, ah, the 13th senator being a prominent one, and, and the state of the art forensics lab being the toppings. My memory doesn’t fail me. It was Brother Carlos Perdomo who unveiled the plans for the forensics lab, and standing by his mouth, he pushed his son to go to that cold, cold USA so he could learn all that was necessary to learn to run the spanking new laboratory when it was built.

Oh bah, the lab noh bil yet, and the bwai noh come back yet neither. I have to beg pardon again for how easily I get distracted. What is wrong with Pere? Were you so busy shackling Representative Julius, insulting the Americans when they questioned our weed habits, and spouting off at the Chamber senator that you forgot to read that 2008 Imagine the Possibilities manifesto? Ai.

I don’t know which hero at the podium was the one to dare call us out for being weak, which we are sometimes because of our financial desperation. I’m pretty sure it wasn’t the leader, because I remember saying to myself, thank gudnis, thank gudnis he didn’t bring up that grossly unfair damnation of us again, and thinking too that he just might be a little embarrassed by his colleague, and then, and then…

Would you believe the hero latched on to the absurdity like man’s best friend on a bone, to remind the world that he was the one who was first to call us out for our weaknesses? Yes, we were told that when we talk about corruption in Belize, yes, we can look at the ones running the government, but we must not forget to remember to look in the mirror, at ourselves. In short, we who take the little pennies don’t have the right to talk about the ones who chisel us out of the many millions!

Braa, the corruption in the UDP mek the PUP look like small change. Dehn bwai ya noh easy. The PUP were sheepish about their misdeeds, and some of them were flat out embarrassed. Dehn UDP bwai ya noh got no shame. Dehn noh jos justify the crooked things they do, dehn accuse poor old we of being dishonest.

Brothers, sisters, everything starts with leadership, everything starts at the top. If you want to put a serious dent into corruption, you have to look at the people who are in charge of the country. Sure, we have our guilt, but we aren’t the example — the leaders are.

We have a leadership crisis, and that’s either because our leaders are dedicated to justifying their corruption by spreading the blame, or they don’t know what real leadership is. The first, well, that’s the worst, because it means they are just dirty, rotten crooks. There is hope in the second, because that’s ignorance, and while they should know better, we believe there are possibilities that we can get over, because everybody can learn.

Please, leadership sets the precedent; that’s why good leaders strive to set a good example for people to try and follow. Good leaders know that when leaders set bad examples, like our shameless leaders do, all falls down.

No sir, Mr. Patrick and UDP, don’t ever accuse of us of being dishonest, not until all your 31 are setting the right example. Let it be pasted on the walls in all the ministries. Let all political leaders know that their fingers will get burned and their buttocks will get kicked if they fool around with passports, or get into trenches with friends that belong in pens.

A noh deh wid dreadlocks in school

Clearly, a lot of investment was put into Mr. Jerry Enriquez by his parents, and much is expected from one who was raised with such devotion, and sacrifice, so it’s no surprise when he said his mother was quite worried when he started growing dreads.

Talking about children whom much is expected from, I am reminded of the boy who was supposed to increase our forensic capacity and then he decided to give his talents to a country that has many like him. Or was it that the boy lost his gusto for us when he realized the government was all talk, that their 2008 manifesto was a sham?

I was on page with Mr. Enriquez most of the way in his story, “Discrimination against dreadlocks in school and society affects lives and must stop”, in the October 9 Amandala. There are guys who like to wear their hair that way, and I have two first cousins, a nephew, and my son who love their dreads and, well, they are adults and that’s their right.

Mr. Enriquez said that a top educator was denied an important post because he had dreadlocks, and I 100% agree with him that that was not right. By any book, that was discrimination and ignorance, and there’s no place for that in our country.

Then Mr. Enriquez defended a student’s right to go to school with his hair in dreadlocks, and that’s when I cut out. It’s discrimination in society, yes, but in school, not the same.

I 100% understand why some schools insist that boys wear their hair short, and why they insist that girls do their very best to look like toothpaste. It’s about distractions. A boy in school can’t be dreads dreads, he has to be fashion dreads, and the game there is about grooming, lots of it.