Dear Editor,
So, we have dueling stories in the newspaper. TEATT [Ministry of Tourism, Economic Affairs, Transport and Telecommunication – Ed.] and the minister say that everything was just business as usual when inspectors swarmed in and closed down 721 , a business in Simpson Bay. The proprietor says it was anything but. He says it is a Minister with an axe to grind making his life miserable and abusing her power because she finds the music annoying even though he is breaking no laws and is acting in a manner that every bar in Simpson Bay already does. Who are we to believe?
Well ... if you look at it simply and historically, everyone that has lived here for more than a few hours has experienced exactly this sort of capricious behavior from the various ministries from the airport to the parking lot downtown and everywhere in between. If you are a “nobody” your applications and paperwork disappear. Years go by before you ever get an answer about anything and if the guy who lives next door happens to be connected or have some juice then he gets a building permit to build something in a location that no one else would ever be able to.
If you have complaints to make you may as well write them on the bottom of a stone and leave them on the beach for someone to find. If you are living in an apartment on a residential street and someone decides to turn their house next door into a restaurant/disco and play music until 3:00am and you complain to “Government” you know as well as I do that nothing ever happens to allow you to get any sleep.
Except if you happen to have some influence or power or “juice” as it is colloquially known. If you are a minister or a “friend” of someone that’s “connected” then for sure you can expect the full weight and power of the various inspection divisions to snap to attention and generate violations that, previously, no one had ever heard of. Exactly like what happened at 721 the other day. A guy doing the work, grinding out a living, has annoyed someone with the juice to ruin his life and bankrupt him.
Of course, it might all be just an innocent mistake. Right. Just when I think I can’t possibly be any more cynical I discover that it’s really nowhere near enough.
So which of the two accounts of the shutdown of 721 do you believe? Which one has that ring of truth? Who is the aggrieved party here?
Not a difficult question after all.
Steven Johnson
