Dear Nesta,ASSETS? WE GOT NEFFIN TO DECLARE!!Don’ t’ink de mont’s en gine long fas’! So fas’ dat we back once mo’ in de hurricane season, hearin’ how bizzy de year gine be fuh storms in dis area. It look like unly couple mont’s ago I was breavin’ a sigh o’ relief to see dat we was at de en’ o’ November wifout any problems, an’ believe it or not, we troubles about to start up agen! A frien’ I know, don’ tek no notice o’ dis infuhmation, ’cause she say, we hear it year aftuh year, an’ when de en’ o’ November come ’roun’, not one t’ing en happen de whole time. She only lef’ wif a lotta tin stuff dat she got to gi’e ’way, as she really don’ eat dat, an’ does only stock up, jes’ in case! Dah might be so fuh a good few years now, but sence global warmin’ tekkin’ its toll, climate changes happenin’ all ’roun’! Philomena was at de beach las’ week an’ tell muh de water wasn’ warm, it was hot, certainly not wha’ yuh would expec’ at dis time o’ de year. Now, yuh would remember dat we really went t’rough a long, turrible dry spell earlier dis year – I en know ef de cause o’dah was “Niño”or “El Niña” – an’ aldoh I glad to see de rains beginnin’ to comin’ in, I unly hope dat whichevah “El” it is dis season, it don’ bring all dem storms de people up in Miami predickin’ fuh we! We local “dreamers” gettin’ ready to wake up, once mo’, wif warnin’s o’ pictures o’ doom an’ gloom dat duh see comin’ dis way! So far, dem turn out to be jes’ bad dreams, but we never know when one could become real, so is bes’ to be ’pon we toes! Well, at las’, dah all-elusive Integrity Law comin’ ’pon de books “soon, very soon” accordin’ to de Attorney-General during a interview up in New York recently! Considerin’ wha’ tekkin’ place now in Jamaica, it en comin’ a minute too soon – not, of course, dat we politics like Jamaica own, but who is to know wha’ de future hol’? I don’ t’ink doh, dat I gine hol’ muh breff – I might only faint-way – ’cause it is years sence dis law was to be put ’pon de books! Bofe parties would usually promise to mek it a priority whenevah duh get in power, but somehow it never happen, so I gine believe it when it actually become law!Wuh, I even remember a few years ago, during a Budget, two politicians from de guvment o’ de day, wifout warnin’, get up an’ decide to declare duh assets! I en know wha’ come ovuh duh, mebbee it was jes’ fuh comic relief, ’cause as far as mos’ people was concern, it was only a joke! An’ ef it was to force de ethuhs to come out an’ declare duh han’s, it certainly din’ ha’ no effeck! Dah subjeck did too touchy, soul!Now to hear de law soon comin’, not only fuh politicians but also fuh civil servants an’ some officers in the private sector, got muh waitin’ to see how dese “rich an’ famous” folk gine start de game o’ “hide an’ seek”, so duh could arrive at reasonable figures dat would soun’ believable to de aut’orities! Guvment aimin’ to put t’rough de Anti-corruption Law at de same time. I remember late las’ year some anti-corruption organization lis’ we as de leas’ corrup’ in de region. Very Good! But it still don’ mean yuh en gine fine some o’ we dat delieve we above de law, an’ could always beat de system. Now, dis new law should tek care o’ all de “right connections” some big maguffies always boastin’ ’bout, an’ axin’ de question – “Do you know who I am”?! No, should we?Tek care o’ yuhselfYuh frien’ Babsie
