Veteran Roots Reggae artiste Cocoa Tea, has taken on unscrupulous Jamaican politicians whom he says continue to raid the public purse with impunity.
According to him, these thieving officials should be publicly beaten with a cane, boxed in their faces and imprisoned. As a consequence, to strengthen his argument he has penned and recorded a new song titled ‘Bax dem up” on the Roaring Lion label.
“I am advocating for us to box up di politician dem and I am not joking. No water naw come from my mouth. Give dem a big five pound bax or a 10 pound bax – and I am not talking as a PNP or a JLP or a NDM or Independent. I am talking as a citizen of Jamaica,” Cocoa Tea said.
“For too long now, consecutive governments have been guilty of misappropriation of funds, stealing money from deh so, money missing here and there and taxpayers money is not being used where it benefits the people. That is causing all of this lawlessness because lawlessness comes from the top, so it goes right down to the man in the street,” he argued.
The artiste, who hails from Rocky Point in Clarendon, was speaking on the popular entertainment show Onstage on the weekend. According to him it will be impossible to ‘get a better Jamaica’ if politicians are not held accountable for their actions.
Bax dem Up was officially released on Saturday and Coco T has also posted images of Bax dem Up memorabilia on his Instagram page.
It is not known whether the song will be allowed to be aired on public radio or television by the Broadcasting Commission as it might be seen as inciting violence, but snippets have been played on Onstage and The Entertainment Report on Television Jamaica. Some of the lines are as follows:
“Full time now politicians get a slap inna dem face / Poor people tax money dem no stap waste / Whenn wi fid di politician dem a teef, mek wi lock dem up / Tie dem up and bring dem outta street / Meck wi bax dem up / Find dem inna corruption, mek police an soldier cuff dem up,” Tea sings.
The sentiments expressed in Cocoa Tea’s song has found found favour with some Jamaicans who watched the interview.
Cocoa Tea, a yu fe be Prime Minister. Baxx up and slap up de thiefing politicians dem… a dem a di main one dem why yard tan suh,” one commenter on YouTube said in agreement.
