Child.
Mi need a programme.
In November, Mottley stand up at di Bridgetown summit and call out “di polite paralysis of consensus politics.” Strong words. Specific words. Polite. Paralysis. Mi remember sittin’ on di verandah listening to it on di radio. Mi neighbour bring out two glass of mauby. We toast it. Because finally somebody in regional leadership saying out loud what every Bajan know — dat di Caribbean been dying of polite for thirty year.
April. Six month later. Same woman. Three days of silence in Kingston. Statement at quarter to ten Tuesday night using exactly di same language as Holness. “Constructive step.” Two PMs, two countries, identical phrase, issued di same evening. Coordinated. Coordinated. Dat is not two leaders saying what dey believe. Dat is two leaders agreeing on what dey want di press to write tomorrow.
So which Mottley going show up Thursday at three o’clock in Parliament, child? Di November Mottley dat call out polite paralysis? Or di April Mottley dat practice it?
Mi predict a third Mottley. Mi predict di Thursday Mottley. Di Thursday Mottley going thread di needle. She going acknowledge “di disappointment some have expressed” without naming who expressed it. She going call di framework “a foundation upon which we can build” instead of “a failure.” She going commit to “continued advocacy” without committing to what di advocacy looks like. She going invoke di Grand Anse Declaration without endorsing variable-geometry. She going name-drop Errol Barrow and Forbes Burnham and George Price to remind us dat regional integration was always hard work and patience required.
And di DLP three questions? She going answer di first one yes (di delegation made interventions, dey was procedural). She going answer di second one with another question (what does “explore” mean in di context of multilateral consultation?). And she going decline to address di third one because it would require her to comment on her own succession.
Dat is mi prediction. Lock it in di vault. Open it Friday morning.
Now hear di hard part, child. Mi nuh angry at Mottley for being strategic. Politics is strategy. Mi been watching it long enough to know dat. Mi angry at di space between what di country was promised and what di country is being delivered. November Mottley was a promise. April Mottley is di delivery. Di promise was bold integration leadership. Di delivery is “constructive step in a long process.”
Di gap is where every Bajan auntie sit. We pay for di gap. We pay it in di tariff stack on Trinidad biscuit. We pay it in di lost share dat Bajan businesses can’t sell into Belize because di harmonization framework keep collapsing. We pay it in di moral disappointment of watching a leader we voted for because she was bold become a leader who calculate.
Three o’clock Thursday. Mi will be on di verandah. Mi will not have mauby. Mi going have water. Because mauby, child, is a celebration drink. And mi nuh celebrating today.
Mi watching.
And mi counting.