The political games of the NDC continue and now it has infiltrated yet another sector of our lives; our culture. Undoubtedly, freedom of speech is threatened in this country, be it spoken Language, or words expressed through songs or through writing. We see the deliberate attempts to hinder freedom of speech in our Parliament and so what happened with the Calypso Monarch Semi-finals comes as no surprise to the opposition.

We can not help but say “kudos” to the NDC government for politicizing yet another area of our lives, here in Grenada. The NDC is doing an excellent job at ensuring Grenadians voices are silenced. If there is one thing they are successful at since becoming the Government that would definitely be it.

The Opposition must say that it is quite unfortunate that even in our carnival celebrations; the poisonous ways of the NDC Government exists. All of Grenada witnessed the victimisation of popular Calypsonians like Zingo, Gun, Papa Jerry, Sisterly and even Sour Serpent who interestingly suffered a microphone problem minutes after the Prime Minister arrived at Victoria Park, Grenville. Sadly, they were hard hit by the political Judges who unfortunately sat at the judges table.

We are convinced that the treatment these Calypsonians received lay heavily on the fact that they are perceived supporters and or associates of the Opposition. We wonder if it is coincidental that Calypsonians such as the aforementioned whose songs in some way or the other highlighted the facts and reality of the mess our country is in, the hardships facing our people and the maliciousness of the NDC, did not qualify for the finals.

The NNP reigned for 13 years and this very injustice has been meted out to Calypsonians, by the politically biased Judges we have in our country. It used to be the general feeling in Grenada that Calypsonians sing on the issues affecting the people of a country and the state of a country at the time, however this is not and has not been the case in Grenada for a while. The qualifications for winning a crown or making it to the finals is to sing a song that attacks Keith Mitchell and the NNP. If a Calypsonian does not sing such a song then there is no way he can win a crown.

Often, it is said that the truth offends and that appears to be the case with the NDC Government. The NDC obviously hate the truth and cannot bear to listen to the facts of how terrible a government they are and how miserable Grenadians are with them as Government. As a result they find every possible way to strike the Calypsonians, like those mentioned previously. More and more victimisation of poor people, who are working hard to try to make a living. Suffice it to say, the NDC does not seem to understand and have not yet comes to terms with the fact that by all their malicious actions, they are in fact hurting themselves and their chances as a government. In the same fashion, they are turning the hearts of more and more Grenadians towards the Opposition.

We believe that in competitions like that, there is a need to have Judges who are fair and of impeccable character, integrity and those who refuse to be politically motivated and who know what they are really about. We do not need Judges who prejudge the Calypso Semi finals. These unjust acts must stop. We believe that these Judges must be ashamed of themselves and that there is a desperate need for the replacement of these Judges. Those who are there now ought to be truly ashamed of themselves for giving heed to the NDC’s schemes and allowing themselves to be the NDC’s political puppets. Maliciousness must never, ever be rewarded and all who participate in such unjust acts will meet their day.

It is so sad that we have reached the point in this country where nothing can happen free of political schemes and childish games. Recently we have seen Inspector of Police Raymond “beast” Mathew singing quite boldly his selection “Keep your a** quiet” infront of Prime Minister Tillman Thomas and the Prime Minister saw nothing wrong with it obviously because it was in his Party’s favour. We are left to wonder if Prime Minister Tillman Thomas will intervene when Commissioner Clarkson reprimands the “beast” this coming week as we have been made to understand from sources within the Ministerial Complex. What makes this ironic and quite hilarious, is that within the first months of the NDC’s rule, the leader spoke of depoliticization of the sectors of the country. We had no idea that what the Leader of the NDC meant was that they would introduce politics to areas where it never existed. Perhaps the Leader of the NDC used the wrong word, perhaps he did not check with his eloquent speech writers. Better yet this may be another case of his, “I did not know” or “I was not aware”. Then again, one of his speech writers is now an Ambassador so it might have been a case where it was written in “Spanish”.

We know that we have a bunch of liars, conmen and deceivers ruling our government. All they know is how to find ways to hurt more and more of our poor and hard working Grenadians. These Calypsonians are merely another group of Grenadians to be subject to the NDC’s victimisation.

Victimisation from the NDC will not stop, and we are of the opinion that it cannot and will not stop because that is their area of expertise. That is what they excel at as a government; Remember the words of the Nazim Burke “we will fire them, we will get rid of them”. They surely and boldly without any shame, got rid of the hard hitting Calypsonians whose Commentaries exposed their weakness as a Government. They have embedded their operatives within radio stations so much so that some radio announcers were warned about playing certain calypsos especially the hard hitting selection by “African Teller”.

We urge the Calypsonians who have been the latest victims of the NDC’s maliciousness to keep the faith, keep working hard and rest assured that the battle is not your own, it is Almighty God’s.