Grenada Today - The National Newspaper of Grenada, Carriacou & Petite Martinique

(Interpret; Grenadian dialect; meaning; Where are the chickens?)

by Reynold C. Benjamin

Dr. Keith Claudius Mitchell, where are the chickens? You said, 'Grenadians have short memories'. So you believe that we have forgotten the fowl farm which you promised to set up in Bocage, St. Mark costing EC Twenty Million dollars (EC$20,000,000.00).

It was in April 2003, wasn't it, that your NNP government announced the establishment of the company Grenada Broilers Incorporated (GBI) to "produce, process and efficiently market quality chicken products, that enhance the nutritional health and well-being of the nation in a cost efficient manner".

So, whey de fowl and them? Before general election in November 2003, you all, NNP, made a lot of loud noises, cut down plenty cocoa and banana trees, tractor land and dig up the place to impress us. In August 2005, we are waiting, still, to 'enhance our nutritional health' with some 'quality chicken products'.

After the election, which you said you won, you came back, on the 25th February, 2004, to tell us, through your mouth piece Gregory Bowen, that you were setting up a Board of Directors comprising, guess who, Richardson Andrews, Patrick Antoine, Dr. Bowen Louison, Dorette Fletcher, Stan Phillip, Thaddeus Curtis Baptiste (whose project you grabbed) and Fitzroy James.

Gregory prated, then, that he was building "a hatchery, a fully automated processing plant with the capacity to process 2,000 broilers per hour and broiler houses to accommodate 1.8 million birds per year, as well as feed storage, packaging and distribution facilities". You remember now, Dr. Keith Claudius Mitchell? You should remember because those are the things you told us. Do you agree that nothing has taken place? I visited Bocage and not even ah good old yard fowl is to be seen in the place.

And you have given no explanation to us, as yet? OK! Now, let me remind you of some, only, of the things that have happened with Grenada Broilers Inc. since February 2004 which you haven't disclosed to us, stupidees. For example, what about the loan of US$6.9 million (EC$18.63 million) from Royal Bank of Trinidad & Tobago (RBTT) which was granted for the project? You remember that, Doc?

If not, let me tittle your memory. You know how easily we Grenadians forget things. It is part of the US$67 million you took from RBTT just before the election, in November 2003. How much have you drawn down, all? And whey all that money gone? I hear you spending it chirrup, chirrup, bit by bit. Is that true? Tell us! We want to know! For example; has Grenada Broilers Inc. (GBI) employed anyone and at what salary? Keith Claudius Mitchell, Political Leader of NNP and Prime Minister of Grenada, do you know the name Kenneth Bailey?

That is the name I saw on the cheque. Is he being paid a monthly salary of EC$8120.00 as Financial Comptroller of this ghost fowl farm which is supposed to be at Bocage, St. Mark? Ah know you think we stupid but $8120.00 worth of chicken per month is ah lot of fowl, wee! And you know we like we fowl? Some of us like it hot; some like it cold; some like it in the pot plenty days old. Some like the fowl fry; some like the fowl stew, some like it barbeque; others like it baked and the bad boys like it roast.

To be honest, I am a roast fowl man meself. Any lady roast the fowl for me, is dey ah staying. So Doc! You know we weakness when it comes to chicken but if this man, Kenneth Bailey, is being paid that kind of money all this time for doing nothing, you have gone too too far and you playing the a...s now with taxpayer's money. You expect us to pay 5% tax (donation) to pay a man $8120, every month, for doing nothing. Come on, my friend, be real. But what is government doing in fowl business, anyway? Let me tell you, my friend, I ain't taking out no 5% of people's money to give you to play the fool with.

Put your hand in dey pay packet yourself and take it out. Jail me if you want. Send me up by Bernard and the boys. Ah could do with a rest. If you refuse to respond to these enquiries, I will ask the Leader of the Opposition to raise the matter in Parliament. Oh! What a fowl smell.

(Look out for Part Two)