By D. Gisele Isaac
The blood prevailed: This was how some observers summed up last Monday’s by-election in St. Phillip’s North, explaining that the killing of a Glanvilles resident in Newfield was the supernatural guarantee of a win.
Once upon a time, I might have scoffed and posited that the tragedy was merely a coincidence; but given all I know now, I can’t do that. Instead, all I can do is hope that no further “sacrifice”, as alleged, will attend the imminent General Election.
But, ahead of that death, in St. Phillip’s North, there’d been a sickness: a mental illness. And while many locals would be familiar with the Stockholm Syndrome — a psychological condition in which an abused person identifies and bonds with his or her abuser, and even feels gratitude for them — fewer of us might know of the condition called Munchausen by Proxy.
In this syndrome, the curious thing is that a caregiver will inflict harm on his or her dependent and then, at a critical point, rush in to render assistance, earning the approval and admiration of others. And then the caregiver does it again … and again … until the patient finally dies or the poisoner is forcibly stopped.
Sounds remarkably like this Administration to me: Starve the constituents of affordable food. Deprive them of proper medical attention and quality education. Subject them to crumbling and dangerous infrastructure. And then, when the situation becomes critical for the people, it rushes in heroically with feel-better gifts for the kiddies and their parents, and remedies like road works, clinic hours, and fire trucks, thereby resuscitating supporters and convincing them they’re loved … until the cycle of harm starts again.
Sources claim the current rush to “love” — including the immediate 5% pay raise for public servants; the targeted clean-up of Rural East; and the pointed road rehab in All Saints West — is to ensure the Administration gets a fresh mandate ahead of the United Kingdom cancelling our visa-free access.
If this allegation is true — and I’m inclined to believe it — then this will be the third travel door closed in the faces of Antiguans and Barbudans under the Browne Administration. And where the UK leads, I strongly suspect the European Union (EU) will follow.
Then we would find ourselves truly isolated within these 170 square miles, without friends, during what could turn out to be a long, dark and hungry war — with not even Cuba to send help.
You must admit that, with two whole years still on the calendar, the calling of this General Election seems rather desperate — even for a government already swamped by the case of Alfa Nero, which simply will not go away; by the carbon monoxide of a $15 million vehicle-purchase rip-off that’s been hidden from public view; by a Citizenship by Investment Programme “under neck-arm” by the USA; by a Medical Benefits Scheme strangled by financial obligations it cannot afford; and by a hundred miles of road that, 12 months after an unprecedented 40% hike in vehicle-licensing fees, are turning luxury cars into jalopies.
So desperate that the Lying King has given the minister of health a haircut, short-changing him of the 50-year celebration he coveted so badly, and replaced him with a doctor whose professional ethics he once derided. How sick is that?!
So desperate that — after cussing locals who couldn’t afford land at Pensioners for $20 @ square foot and telling us to be grateful for $12 — Crown land is suddenly, miraculously, available at the giveaway price of $1 per square foot.
So desperate that he’s making it even easier for immigrants to regularize their status, setting them on the path to acquiring citizenship and a passport that, right now, has absolutely no currency outside this region. (Immigrants, beware!)
So desperate that Christmas has been extended this year to feature an ABST-free period in April — to cushion shopping for the third school term, they say. That made me laugh, I admit. But I guess that, given the massive treating of electronic appliances this campaign will generate, there’s no need to reduce the tax on those items.