ain't it time to stop playing politics with SKNAARS?

I just came from the restroom and you know how you sometimes get ideas when you are in there. I don't want to call it inspiration but if you think that what it is I will back you up. Actually, my flash came when I was under the shower and the water was slightly below body temperature for mid morning. I was thinking photography not ham radio, so I don't know where the flash came from, and since it seems to be a truism I will say a few word, very few, on this. Some people have a way of wanting to tell others what they must do and say, and could do and say, and I am not into that foolishness. Every person has a right to do and say what they wish, anytime and any place, but if in so doing they violate any laws and bye laws, to which a penalty is attached, following any recourse that was taken by those who felt 'hurt' or mischievous, you can either suck it or appeal the judgement, if it was legally obtained. The long and short is, if you don't like it lump it or deal with the injustice.

SKNAARS, the St Kitts Nevis and Anguilla Amateur Radio Society is caught in a "political" vice grip by its members. I am of the view that some of the SKNAARS membership is willfully choking the life out of the organization.

I am one of those persons who like to make statements because the facts are evident, but I am not going to give them to you on a platter. You need to conduct your own research, Caribbean style, and if you do it right you will collect more 'dirt' than you can dispose of.

SKNAARS was founded in 1973.

In 1980 St Kitts - Nevis got a change in Government with the PAM/NRP Administration.

In 1995 St Kitts - Nevis got a change in Government with the Labour Administration.

Look closely at the strides and gains of SKNAARS before 1980, between 1980 and 1995, and after 1995.

In this small community of ours of some 45,000 people it is not extremely difficult to categorize the political allegiance of the inhabitants, especially in the election years. They may fool you in between but their true color eventually comes out. Thank GOD I am not one of those who 'masquerade' and hide behind the 'gubby face mast'. I was born a Labour Party supporter and will most likely die as one too. My father was already the Secretary of the Party when I was born so that is settled. But who I support politically has absolutely nothing to do with ham radio in St Kitts and Nevis, the Caribbean or the world. I don't pick and choose which ham I should or should not support or fraternize with, because they are backing PAM and I am backing Labour. A ham is a ham is a ham. But then again everyone may not be as broad minded or open minded as I am.

So SKNAARS seemed to have a PAM oriented executive in the 1980 to 1995 years. But my club support is color blind and we all had a jolly good time. Then up comes a change of Government in 1995, and SKNAARS is hard pressed for member participation at meetings, and no one is suddenly available for election to the Society's Executive. I would venture to say that if the Government had changed from a Labour Government to a PAM/CCM Government in January 2010, our AGM which is held in February would have been filled to overflowing and a new Executive would have been installed. Unfortunately, the AGM is still pending and overdue, as we can't get a quorum of 9 financial members.

So let us blame it on the recession. That takes the heat for everything, and now it may be even be blamed on the VAT to be introduced later this year. You see it is the politics of the country that is affecting SKNAARS. Maybe the politics have some hams so 'basody' that they can't think straight even with a simple thing like ham radio. Maybe some people are just using this as a gimmick, but I am seriously of the view that they are WILLFULLY screwing SKNAARS and ham radio, a hobby that they claim to love.

I will not let my ham radio be affected by anyone who wants to kill ham radio in our Country. Ham radio is bigger than any one of us. We come meet it and we will go leave it. Some people feel that as we pass through on this earthly journey we should seek to touch people, and things, and leave a positive marks behind. I hope that some of our hams would stop playing politics with our ham radio, forget about PAM and LABOUR, and let us all work together to develop and carry our SKNAARS and ham radio to a new level for 2010 and beyond.

I call upon the incumbent SKNAARS executive to immediately set up a constitution review committee to provide us with a practical working constitution, and not the 1996 white elephant we now have. It is laughable that we can't get 5 members to attend a monthly meeting, but under the 'new' constitution, we now require a nine [9] member quorum for the same monthly meeting. Some backward compatibility. This example is not meant to vilify the members who laboured [maybe worked is a more sensitive word to use] over the constitution for 14 years. So why did it take so long to bring this new document to the table? Wrong dispensation?

I am looking for some other hard cold real reasons to account for what and where SKNAARS is today. Of course I have a bias, but I can only see that the politics of some of us are keeping SKNAARS from rising back up to its former glory and beyond. It is high time that we finish away with this "politics nonsense and bullshit" and give SKNAARS and ham radio in St Kitts and Nevis a fair chance.