Nekeisha Burchell Jamaican Patois Speech Goes Viral In Africa

Added: 2026-06-02

[00:00:08]So Nikisha Burchel viral moment just a little bit over a week ago beginning her parliamentary speech in PWA, it has now gone international. So not only people in Jamaica and Jamaicans in the diaspora and also people in the Caribbean but now people as far as Africa, Ghana, people as far as Europe, the United Kingdom are having the conversation about PWA in parliament. And while this is not a bad thing that it is now gone out of Jamaica, out of our diaspora and out of the Caribbean, this goes to show Bran Jamaica, how powerful Brand Jamaica is, and that what we're seeing in Parliament and the constant disruption that we're seeing in Parliament and the agitation that we're seeing in Parliament, people outside of Jamaica are watching. So this I I came up on a few videos on my social media and the first one I'm going to play this one is coming out of Ghana and this man in Ghana is reacting to Nikishha Bertil beginning her speech in PWA and building a conversation around it. So I'm going to hit play and we're going to watch this together.

[00:01:34]see in this video this something in Jamaica's parliament which might just change their whole history forever.

[00:01:40]>> Hold on, hold on, hold on. Standing orders and I think you are fully aware and if I have to stop you again during your presentation, you will not get any additional time.

[00:01:48]>> So apparently the woman you see in this video goes by the name Nikisha Bachel.

[00:01:52]She's actually an opposition MP in Jamaica and also a spokesperson for culture, creative industries and also information. Now during a sectoral debate presentation, she decided to open a debate on culture with the first two lines in PWA and was immediately shut down by the house speaker making it clear that the PWA is not allowed and not to be used in the parliament even though they in Jamaica where a lot of people speak this particular language.

[00:02:16]>> Madame Speaker, me get up this afternoon make my first sectoral speech portfolio.

[00:02:24]>> Hold on, hold on, hold on. standing orders and I think you are fully aware and if I have to stop you again during your presentation, you will not get any additional time. Madam Speaker, perhaps I should abandon >> that attempt to use our local language because maybe there is no more fitting way to begin a presentation on culture than to speak briefly in the language understood by the overwhelming majority of Jamaican people.

[00:02:58]Let me give you the Queen's English. Now this has sparked a lot of conversations especially considering the fact that somewhere in 2025 this particular state minister was allowed to use Spanish to address a couple of diplomat that came to their parliament.

[00:03:20]from the beginning.

[00:03:21]>> I'm not aware of what he's saying. I don't speak Spanish and stand in order that that is written for this house. You must speak in English and English only.

[00:03:31]I have no idea what he's saying.

[00:03:34]>> But leeway was granted by the speaker to allow specifically for him to speak in Spanish.

[00:03:42]>> Now, this is something that I would applaud the Ghana parliament for. I mean even though English language is used as a standard one to address the parliament the use of the local language is not prohibited. I mean this there have been instances where a couple of people were allowed to address the parliament in their local language. Now according to this woman Nikisha Bchel she did it intentionally just >> Yes. So the only problem I'm having with this is that when this discussion is happening outside of Jamaica and people don't understand context because you know Ghana would be also like a British a British colony. they would have been colonized by by the Brits also and they would have a similar system in their parliamentary where in their parliament where they could ask permission to speak in their different because Ghana have several different languages and they would also have to ask permission. So the danger of having of these conversation taking place outside of Jamaica where people don't understand context is that the same way that member of parliament asks for permission to speak in Spanish, Nikishha Burchell could have done the same thing and she would have been granted permission. And also in Ghana and other African countries that use the same British system, there are several language local languages in different countries in in Africa. Some countries like they have up to over 50 different languages and if someone from that tribe is in parliament who speaks English and they wanted to for some special reason to address the parliament in their local their tribal language they would also ask permission and they would get the opportunity to go ahead. So let let's continue >> to raise awareness in Jamaica.

[00:05:40]>> That was me disrupting it. That was me spurring the conversation to say it's time for change. And clearly parliament wasn't ready for that conversation. But you know who's ready for it? The diaspora for read across Jamaica Day.

[00:05:52]Last week I went to a couple schools in my constituency. I didn't bring an English book about Spider-Man Superman.

[00:05:57]I brought an Nancy stories by Louis Bennett. And I was surprised a lot of the kids they don't know who is brother Tokoma. them not know who is big boy.

[00:06:04]They not know who's an auntie. We're losing it. And if we don't disrupt it, jolt society, then we're going to stay the same.

[00:06:12]>> Yes. So, I found it very interesting when I came across this on on Instagram and this young man reacting to it all the way from Ghana. Even though I shouldn't be surprised because as I said, Brand Jamaica is big. There is a lot of different African content creator mostly in Ghana and Kenya that 100% of their content is talking about Jamaica.

[00:06:35]Just imagine like Africans in Kenya in Ghana never been to Jamaica before but they are like vloggers that they talk about current um affairs in Jamaica.

[00:06:46]They talk about Jamaican culture and everything that is going on in Jamaica.

[00:06:51]So I should not be surprised. But this, as I said, this is brand Jamaica. Brand Jamaica is powerful. And my only concern is that what I've expressed is that I believe that parliament is going to erupt one day and could possibly get physical if they don't calm down and respect each other in parliament. And that is something that we would not want to happen because see not only Jamaicans at home or Jamaicans in the diaspora watching the parliamentary hearing but Jamaica because of brand Jamaica, people in Africa and people in Europe, they are also watching us. So we have to be very careful in terms of how our politicians conduct themsel in parliament because the world is watching. And as I said, there's another interesting one that I saw, and this one was from the United Kingdom.

[00:07:45]>> Politicians can't speak Jamaican PWA in Jamaican Parliament. Think about that for a second. Jamaican politicians can't speak Jamaican PWA in Jamaican Parliament. Not because they all don't want to, because they are not allowed to. You're about to watch a clip of a politician speaking in PWA and watch what happens next. Madam Speaker, me get up this afternoon for make my first sectoral speech for me portfolio.

[00:08:11]>> Hold on, hold on, hold on. Standing orders and I think you are fully aware and if I have to stop you again during your presentation, you will not get any additional time.

[00:08:22]>> Pa faces accusations of not being a proper language. anguage. I've seen it described as broken English, despite the fact it's the language that most Jamaicans will speak to each other in day-to-day. And not saying something as a language or calling it a broken version of another language. You would never hear a linguist describe language in that way. So, you know, whenever you hear something like that, it is an unscientific value judgment, which is intended to create a hierarchy between a language with prestige and a language that you do not want to give prestige to. And after this episode, there have been some really interesting letters in the Gleer newspaper in Jamaica. Someone wrote a letter into the newspaper and then someone felt compelled to reply to that letter. The first one, which was written by Shaky Williams, said this, that this episode was yet another example of the educated class trying to gain cheap street cred at the expense of our native dialect, adding, "For those who argue that English as the standard in Parliament is a colonial vestage, I dare any of them to stand up in their private business or in any international situation and make a presentation in all PWA." Then someone else, Dich Britain, wrote this in response. His argument regurgitates a familiar but flawed claim that valorizing Jamaican PWA somehow threatens English literacy or Jamaica's competitiveness. Decolonizing parliament does not mean replacing every proceeding with pure PWA. It means recognizing that the language spoken by the majority of Jamaicans is fully capable of carrying serious political thought and national debate.

[00:09:45]>> So guys, let me know your thoughts in the comments section. What do you think about that this conversation has now gone international and people in Africa and people in Europe are talking about it? There are a lot more videos out there of people that are not from the Caribbean or not from Jamaica talking about it, but I chose to play the these two. And what I would say is that this to me this is a non-con conversation because Jamaicans are very proud of our PWA. Everybody in Jamaica speak them PWA. We are all proud of our PWA. So to me like this is neither here nor there for me. Like if they should bring this bill to parliament and it got passed that you can just you know bust out in a pa anytime you're doing a presentation to me that is not going to add or take away anything from any Jamaican. It is not going to make us any prouder. We are already some of the proudest people in the world. It is not going to add any more value to us as an economy. It's not going to add any more value to our economy. And the irony is that if you ask Jamaicans who live in the diaspora and Jamaicans who work with people from all over the world, I have worked with people from probably over 150 different countries across the world. In my 30-year career, I've worked with so many different people from from countries.

[00:11:08]When I met people, sometimes I even know that that country exists. And there are countries like India, like China with like hundreds of different languages, local languages. And what is interesting is that every single one of those um people from those countries from China, from from India that they make it to North America or they they they move outside of India, outside of China or even if they stay in China and they go to the main city, English is a big requirement because English is the language that the world does business in. So as I said this it's neither here nor there to me whether like it it is added that you can go in parliament and you can speak but I just believe that this was not a serious issue especially right now where we are in the middle of recovering from hurricane Melissa. I believe that this was just a sideeshow and now Nikishha Burchel she got a viral moment. Not only people in Jamaica talking about it but people across the world they are talking about it. And the next thing I want to talk about is another viral moment from Nikishha Burchell where she went on the fixed podcast and talking about the um speaker of the house ruling her house. So Dion Jackson Miller came out. Dian Jackson Miller is the latest person to come out and Deian Jackson Miller was not happy with what Nikisha Burchell said and she expressed disappointment. So this is what Dian Jackson Miller had to say about Nikishha Burchil and her number two viral moment.

[00:12:47]>> She said I just think the speaker she likes to be in control and that kind of control you can get away with in a marriage if you want to control your husband. For example, you can't control grown people sent to parliament to represent their people. There's disorder and disrespect, but then there's also control because it's not a school mistress and a school momm in a basic school.

[00:13:10]All right. No, just no. This this is not it. Why would you say that? MP, you need to walk it back. You need to apologize.

[00:13:20]This was actually disappointing for a number of reasons. I've been watching MP Burchell since she came to parliament.

[00:13:26]She's a firsttime MP representing a rural constituency, the constituency of South St. James and she's one of the younger MPs that the PNP, the opposition PNP has been looking to to help to revitalize their side of the house. I've been pretty impressed with her, right?

[00:13:42]I've been listening to her contributions in committee. I like how she handled herself. I think she's been doing her homework. And I'd earmarked her in a previous video as one of the MPs I thought did really well. you know from the start of parliament last year but honestly it looked like so she go sit down on the PNP side of the house and she catch foot in mouth disease which some of them have because why would you say this and what has happened here is that in this one unfortunate and uncalled for remark she's managed to wipe out a lot of the goodwill that people were building towards her all of the positive attention that she had got from starting at national conversation by trying to start her speech in PWA in Jamaican. What has happened now is that all of that has been forgotten. All people are talking about is that she out she rude. She was out of line. Why did she say that about the speaker?

[00:14:38]No. Just no. Just just very disappointing.

[00:14:42]>> Yes. So that was Dion Jackson Miller coming out and expressing disappointment in Nikha Burchell for going on the fixed podcast and saying that about the speaker of the house. So let me know what you think in the comment section.

[00:14:56]What do you think about Dion Jackson Miller coming out and addressing this? I think that this is a good look because Dion Jackson Miller is one of Jamaica's top journalist. She's been around for a long time. a lot of our um iconic journalists, they are, you know, they're dying out. So, Dion Jackson Miller, she's one of the top ones that we still have around. And it is good, especially as a woman that she come up that she came out and she said something about this. But the thing is now, is is Nikisha Burchel is she going to apologize? I think they're going to be meeting today. Is she going to come out and issue an apology? And I I doubt it.

[00:15:38]Angela Brownberg did not apologize and I don't think Nikisha Burchell is going to apologize. And it's sad because for anyone that's been watching Carb 21 from last year leading up to the election, Nikesha Burchell, Raymond Price, and Isaac Buchanan, they were three of the younger the newer politicians from the People's National Party that I was looking at favorable and said that look, they look like they could win their seat and they could have a promising future in politics. and Nikisha Burchel. I've did quite a a a bit of story about her leading up to the election and how good she is on social media in terms of marketing herself. Uh so I wasn't surprised when she won because she was out there doing her thing on social media. And you know my belief. I believe that Nikesha Burchel and Angela Brown Burke, they were put on this special assignment by the leader of the opposition, Mark Gooling, to go after the speaker of the house. Because when Mark Gooling went after the speaker of the house in the debate leading up to the election, it was ne it was not a good look. It's not a good look when a man is attacking a woman. So what do you do? The next best thing you set two of the women in the People's National Party on the speaker of the house and I've said it numerous times when you since September 3rd 2025 and you see the placement of Angela Brown Burke and you see the placement of Nikishha Burchel they are side by side strategically placed right where they can attack the speaker of the house or they can disrupt the speaker of the house. So that is my belief. But Nikishha Burchell is going to have to be very careful what she's doing because I feel like Mark Golden is just using her the same way Damian Crawford was used in the general election. And where is Damen Crawford now? Damian Crawford profile is not elevated the way that we thought it would have been elevated. The fact that Damen Crawford was the loudest voice in the People's National Party campaign.

[00:17:48]Damian Crawford was like the cheerleader of the People's National Campaign, the the the one person that brought some energy and brought some vibes to the People's National Party campaign. And I don't know about anyone else, but I thought that Damian Crawford would be playing a bigger role in this opposition party. But what we have seen since then is Damian Crawford being pushed to the side. And now we are seeing like a Nikisha Burchel elevated. So she better be careful because they can use her, chew her out, chew her up and spit her out. And when people dislike her when she come out there and she pull these stunts and she's not popular anymore, she can be pushed to the side the way Damen Crawford is pushed to the side now. So, she better be careful because, you know, she's young and she could have a bright future in front of her, but with her track record so far within the past 8 months, she is burning down everything that she worked so hard to build leading up to the election. And to me, that it just it just not making much sense. So, guys, sound off in the comment section. Let me know your thoughts on this. What do you think about this viral moment in Jamaica going international and people in Europe and people in Africa are talking about Jamaica Parliament and PWA not being able to speak in parliament? Let me know your thoughts in the comment section and don't forget to like, share, and subscribe for more amazing content.

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