A grave injustice is being perpetrated in full view of all to see.

We are witnessing a public lynching of indigenous gas station dealers by the leadership of this country for simply daring to ask for relief.

Dealers are vilified for asking for a little bit more to cover the drastic rise in the cost of doing business brought on by increases to the minimum wage; higher credit card bank fees; higher electricity costs and higher cost to purchase fuel upfront from WIOC.

If you are a local business owner in Antigua and Barbuda, take note, you are likely to be next.

This government administration hates indigenous Antiguan and Barbudan businesses and institutions. They fear independent thinkers and individuals. They call them “Nuff and Edge Up”.

If you refuse to swallow the idiocy that the leadership panders, you are marked for destruction.

This administration has established a clear pattern of belligerence and hatred towards the indigenous business people of this country.

We thought we had a government of the people, but it is clear that we are experiencing a government of despots. There is not even a scintilla of empathy or care for the concerns of the suffering people.

The open disrespect and disdain for the dealers should be a lesson to everyone. We ought to be reminded by our local saying that the “stick that hit wild goat hit the tame”. It is clear that no one will be immune to this wanton open attack. It is a matter of time before it gets to you.

Can you imagine that a leadership that pretends to understand how an economy works, would openly refuse to meet with the dealers but prefer to behave as Lords of all they survey? This leadership did not even know how merchant fees work.

Most things that this administration touches, gets destroyed or corrupted.

This administration has destroyed the local nursing institution and replaced it with an indentured labour force, with no plan to permanently expand locals’ involvement in nursing again.

This administration destroyed the cancer center.

This administration destroyed our access to the US.

It let the MRI machines go into disrepair.

This administration has put your social security pension in jeopardy.

Had it not been for the stand taken by a true son of the soil, Kem Tonge, Social Security would have lost all of its money in trying to resurrect Jolly Beach Hotel. A property that no serious hotel investor, even the late Robert Barrett would not touch with a ten-foot pole.

This leadership then openly attacked this local faithful Antiguan and Barbudan. Kem Tonge is a true patriot who needs to be celebrated for his courage to stand up against tyranny, corruption and overreach.

This same administration is in the process of destroying WIOC by instructing the management to incur losses for the sake of propping up personal egos.

This same administration, in the middle of a crime wave has bent over and kowtowed to the USA to receive an unlimited number of “despicable pedophiles and rapists” all in anticipation for big money.

Who cares about the safety of our women and children when money is involved?

The modus operandi for this administration is: once money is involved then all ethics and good governance principles are thrown out the window.

For the love of money this administration has pawned our beaches and quietly taken away our rights to visit the beaches.

This same government has openly vilified Antiguans and Barbudans officials from ONDCP, the police force and the prison and held them responsible for the incompetence of its cabinet.

If we, the people of this country, allow this government to destroy the dealers, we can expect the same level of belligerence against other Antiguan and Barbudan businesses and institutions.

Before the dealers, it was the Bar Association and the judicial system. This might be a temporary stay of execution. I do not feel he is done with them.

Who will be next? Will it be the local banks? The local insurance companies? The taxi associations? The bus associations? The medical associations?

Who you think will be the next target?

I am begging you to not turn a blind eye thinking that this is not your fight.

Under the NAZI regime in Germany, Hitler systematically destroyed institutions that stood in his way of his absolute control.

Below is a poem that one observer at that time left us describing the attitudes of the people at that time who let fear prevent them from uniting against a diabolical leadership.

Here is the poem written by Lutheran pastor Martin Neimoller entitled “First They Came”

First they came for the Communists

And I did not speak out

Because I was not a Communist

Then they came for the Socialists

And I did not speak out

Because I was not a Socialist

Then they came for the trade unionists

And I did not speak out

Because I was not a trade unionist

Then they came for the Jews

And I did not speak out

Because I was not a Jew

Then they came for me

And there was no one left

To speak out for me

I think this poem describes perfectly the insidious evil that is engulfing our nation today.

Our leadership divides and conquerors to take control.

Let us learn the lessons of history and recognize the evil that has taken over the leadership. For those of you familiar with scripture, we are told that we shall know the wicked by their fruit.

No good thing produces division among the people.

If you live in Antigua and Barbuda, unless you are in a deep sleep, the writing is very much on the wall.

We are all on the verge of losing our freedom to new colonialists that look like us.

This leadership hates Antiguan and Barbudans.

The relationship between this administration and the people can mostly be explained by the battered wife syndrome, where the wicked leadership openly abuses the people but the people’s dependency ties them to the wicked leadership for their survival. Everyone fears losing their job in the government service which is the primary employer.

The pattern has been set.

Look how this leadership has broken and changed the law to lynch the Barbuda council, a legitimate and constitutional institution.

Our diabolical leaders have been systematically violating our constitutional freedoms for their own personal gain and self-aggrandizement.

Taking away private property is the flavour of the day. Think Alfa Nero and Barbudan lands.

I am amazed that the population is not insulted by the open display on social media of opulence, while we all suck salt.

This leadership claims that they support reparations, yet they are spending all of our money to host the King of England, who flatly refuses to apologise for his country’s involvement in the atrocious crimes against humanity through slavery. A slap in the face if you ask me.

Yet, the leadership of this country threatens the dealers that if they embarrass our demigod before the King of the UK, wrath will rain down from heaven on the dealers.

It is clear where our leadership’s allegiance lies.

To hell with these lowly, peasant dealers. They need to know their place!

It is clear that the leadership of Antigua and Barbuda is a proxy of the colonists. We have been infiltrated. We have traitors running our government.

Why is it ok for the government to earn $3.00+ per gallon for not doing a single thing with the purchase or delivery of fuel to the consumer but the dealer who bears all of the risk is greedy to ask for a few cents more on $1.08. The dealers have not received any economic adjustment for years.

If the government was really expecting the dealers to make a sacrifice to stay at $1.08 margin, would it not be reasonable to assume that a caring government would probably settle for $2.00 per gallon, and reduce the consumer’s gas price to $16.99, knowing full well that we have significantly increased electricity bills?

Why does the government need to take more than 2.00?

Where is that so-called caring government?

We appear to have a government who wants everyone else to make sacrifices but it does not want to concede a single cent.

This leadership has deliberately chosen to put the spotlight on the dealers in order to obscure the massive fleecing of the population of over $3.00 per gallon. If the government cared about easing the squeeze, would they not temporarily suspend the $3.00 and keep gas at $14.99?

I thought that the government was put into place to serve the people, but what we see playing out before us is a belligerent leadership that sees the people as its subjects, including the dealers.

These gas station dealers are regular, everyday Antiguans and Barbudans who toil every day to make an honest dollar. They are not doing land swaps and insider trading.

I am appealing to everyone to ask yourself, who is next?

I implore you to join the fight to resist this oppressive government.

Let us push back together against this diabolical tyranny. You have more power than you think!

Today, dealers are the target, who will it be tomorrow?

Could it be you?

Share this post to show your solidarity and to protest against the tyranny.

WHEN YOU SEE YOUR NEIGBOUR’S HOUSE ON FIRE, WET YOURS

This article was originally published by Antigua News Room. Read the original article here: OPINION: When you see your Neighbor house on Fire, Wet Yours.