Retired Politicians Prove Reparations are Impossible
Ever wonder why, when politicians retire, they can say things they never would say while in power?
Take the utterings of former Prime Minister Mr. Patterson, former transport Minister Mr. Mike Henry and the current British Labour party leader on the issue of reparations.
In all the years that Mr. Patterson was Prime Minister, how often did we hear him speak on reparations? While Mr. Mike Henry was Minister of Transport, notice how his reparations fight went flat? As for the leader of the British Labour party, notice that when the question of whether or not he would commit Britain to paying reparations, he was very evasive?
The answer is as plain as daylight – reparations are impossible. You see, when politicians want power, they will say anything. However, when they do get power, they are confronted with the hard realities of government. Politicians who are now in power – both here and in Britain, know that reparations will never be paid. In countries making a lot of noise about it, like ours, our current leaders say precious little.
They know, for instance, that there is no legal basis for reparations and Britain is adamant that it will not pay. That is why, despite the 10-point action plan for reparations, our governments will not take the issue to court. Just to give an idea of what such a court case may cost taxpayers, the lawyers who won that Mau Mau case in Kenya demanded a legal fee of 100 million pounds (or 17 billion Jamaican dollars) for the 30 million pounds they won.
Now these lawyers, which are the same ones we plan to use in Britain, have admitted that the legal case for reparations will be very difficult. Imagine, therefore the amount they will charge us! Much more! 100 million pounds can build a lot of schools, hospitals and development centers, you know.
Which politician in his right mind will blow away that kind of money on the lost cause of reparations at a time when we are in such desperate need in so many other areas? Not one!
However, our politicians aren’t dumb. A lot of our so-called intellectuals are noisy and have influence. So to keep them quite, they create these reparations commissions to give the impression that they really want reparations, when they really don’t. What do you do to silence barking dogs? You through them bones, of course!
So when we hear members of the reparations lobby basking in all of the support that they are getting from these retired politicians who don’t have any real power, those of us who fully understand what is going on know that these retired politicians are just using this reparations issue to advance their own ambitions.
Only the reparations lobby seems to be totally in the dark!
Michael A. Dingwall
