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Therold Prudent has his work cut out for him and it hasn’t gotten off to a good start, or is this a case of a blessing in disguise?
It was like watching a train wreck. The Lucian People’s Movement, a new political party, wanted to plant the first seeds of promotion and they thought that there was no better place to do that than St Lucia’s political Ground Zero, Rick Wayne’s TALK.
It was perhaps the first sign that things were going to go badly. The three co-chairs of the new party who appeared on TALK might have better spent their time actually canvassing the few constituencies where they have roots. They might have been better served by press releases and an open press conference. Instead, they jumped straight over the frying pan into the fire.
The result was fairly predictable to everyone but Rick Wayne who intended to take a promotional tone to help launch the new political movement out of obscurity. But one of the LPM’s co-chairs headed straight for trouble and when he was given the chance to back away, he only made things worse.
Franklin McDonald is barely remembered as a former editor of the Voice newspaper. He also did not make much of a mark as the second deputy chairman of the United Workers Party in the period leading up to and just after the 2001 election. Sometime between the 2001 election and now, Franklin McDonald fell out with the United Workers Party. On Wayne’s show, his main order of business was targeting his former chairman, current prime minister Stephenson King.
“He’s dumb and slow,” McDonald said, trying to paint a picture of King’s incompetence.
Wayne wanted to know what McDonald meant by that. He needed examples of King being dumb and slow in order to allow the comment to stand. “I’m not here to answer questions about Stephenson King,” McDonald replied, forgetting that he was the one who criticized the prime minister. Wayne commented on McDonald’s arrogance, coming on the most confrontation talk show in the Eastern Caribbean and then thinking he could choose which questions he was going to answer.
“I am arrogant,” McDonald replied. “So are you.” Soon after that, Wayne announced a break and summarily booted McDonald off his show. It was the first time that anyone had ever been asked to leave the set of TALK in the middle of the broadcast. (To be perfectly accurate, Wayne once booted current agriculture ministry public relations ‘guru’ Frank Girard off, but that was on another show.)
Therold Prudent, the point man for the LPM was left like Batman without a Robin. By the end of the show, the only light in LPM’s tunnel was that McDonald was never in any danger of contesting elections anyway. To many independent observers, it looked like all hope for a successful and serious third party had crashed and burn.
But on Friday morning, the LPM was marching on as though the train had not derailed the night before. Apparently, Batman needs no Robin. In fact, the way Therold Prudent sees it, the LPM is still on track to becoming St Lucia’s premiere third party. Taking a moment from his canvassing of the Gros Islet constituency, Prudent visited the STAR and addressed Franklin McDonald’s faux pas as well as his party’s prospects of being taken seriously as a political party.
“What happened on the show is not to be construed in any way as an attitude the LPM intends to display,” Prudent told the STAR. “My gut feeling is that there might have been some apprehension on his part about the show. I don’t believe he came to the show to confront Rick. If anyone was offended, I want to offer my deepest apologies.”
They say politics means never having to say you’re sorry. It shows weakness. And you never know when mistakes can go right and you can claim credit instead of taking blame for them.
But Therold Prudent seems willing to break the ordinary rules of engagement in politics if it means that he and the other members of his new party can get some traction with the St Lucian electorate.
The Franklin McDonald fiasco on TALK Thursday night, may in fact have been exactly what the LPM needed—a reason to be talked about by the average man on the street.
“This morning, walking around Gros Islet, I’m encouraged,” he told the STAR. “People are seeing it for what it is—a faux pas rather than a stumbling block.”
McDonald may have burned a bridge or two by getting confrontational with Mr Confrontation himself, but Prudent managed to come out unscathed. Many people thought that given how badly things went with McDonald, Prudent handled himself very well.
For Prudent, however, what is most important was not the reaction that people had to the LPM’s first media outing, but the number of people in St Lucia and outside who had tuned in. For him, it shows that there is a demand for a viable alternative to the two major political parties in St Lucia. People want something else and Therold Prudent and his cohorts are intent on giving it to them, come faux pas, come stumbling block.
“People are experiencing frustration with both parties right now,” he said. “They are telling me don’t look back, just keep moving forward. More people than I ever thought watched the show. Calls were flowing into my house (in New York) by morning time. There is a demand for the LPM or some other third party.”
Prudent might also be the first third party member to have a successful career in platform politics. As a teenager he was the campaign manager for Peter Philip’s successful 1982 bid to win Gros Islet. In the first 1987 election, Philip lost by less than half a dozen votes. For the second 1987 election, John Compton actually asked him to run. His mother told him no, insisting that he study first. His future father-in-law Philip Hippolyte ran and lost and Prudent went to the US to study travel and tourism.
When Lenard Montoute wanted to run in 2001, it was Prudent’s idea to brand him as ‘Spider’, his hometown nickname.
“We were comperes,” said Prudent of Montoute, Gros Islet’s sitting representative and the man he will most likely take on if his word is good and he contests the next election. But the United Workers Party somehow did not find it in their best interest to draw one of Sir John Compton’s favourite young activists into their fold once the Old Fox passed away. Now, they may have to pay the consequences as Prudent prepares to draw frustrated Flambeaus into the LPM in much the same way that a young John Compton drew frustrated Labourites into the fledgling UWP in the early days. Does he really have what it takes, now that it is proven that at least one of the co-chairs of the LPM doesn’t?
“Sir John saw in me a hard worker,” he said. Not to mention that he doesn’t have to learn the art of the platform.
“I’m a hard-nosed fella who wants to win,” he added. “That’s why Sir John asked me to run against Hunte in 87. I transform into a political animal on the platform.”
He’s going to need to. Because if last Thursday’s episode of TALK was any indication, whether or not the LPM has what it takes, it ain’t going to be no easy ride.
RSS
i find it difficult to understand why people equate university education with common sense !! quite a few people who have made large contributions to society are in fact non university.
A few word s on behalf of Hon.Prime minister Stephenson King: He was appointed by the Most Honourable …or is it the Most right honourable ….what ever it is.. King was appointed by our late prime minister John Compton.Compton ran St.Lucia for thirty unbroken years.He trashed (allow me this unbecoming english word…trashed) his rivals and the st lucian landscape bears his stamp in more ways than one. Kenny Anthony who is a Doctor of sorts was soundly defeated by sir john.
Surely JOHN saw something in Stenpenson which most of you guys(another useless word…guys.what does the word GUYS mean,what is its root?) must have missed and are still missing.Stephenson king stands up well to criticism,and he is a COOL RULER.additionally he is doing a fine job holding the country together as it goes through its transition from SIR JOHN.there is, of course, a lot more positives going for STEPHENSON.SUPPORT HIM SUPPORT HIM,BY ALL MEANS CRITICISE WHEN IT’S NEEDED BUT DON’T BERATE THE MAN.
It is well worth noting that Sir John also appointed as attorney general a man who st lucians also like to berate……………WHY ? Obviously Sir John saw something gleaned from years of experience in dealing with the St.Lucian psyche,
that prompted him to make these two appointments.
I KNOW WHAT sir john SAW.
Sir John did rightly.
now a word to all of you who love western education.
bill gates ejected university….and now he owns all of cyberland….including the militaries cyberland….errrr that is until the military can learn his secrets then he wont be needed anymore
NOW CONCERNING STEPHENSON.
GIVE THE MAN A BREAK…..
Wrong way to start a party, in fact one should stay away from being a critic and focus more on what you have to bring, show how you are different. The moment you start judging you actually become part of that judgement. The picture is now muddy.
To go into politics means that you suffer from an inferiority complex and need to prove to the world just how great you are, the more you try the smaller you become.
HEY MCDONALD…..by whose standards do you make the PM dumb and slow ?
i fear the day you were ever to be in political office of any sort
ps…note my choice of words in the phrase :WERE EVER TO BE….
i deliberately create the tension between past and present placing the past before the present.Translation of the phrase:: YOURE DONE EVEN BEFORE YOU START MCDONALD.
A little serious humour is in order fellas??
YOUR PAST EXCEEDS YOUR FUTURE MCD
These guys are also wasting their time, if they somehow believe that they will ever, ever,….ever, ever, ever, ever, ever,ever (say it like Chris Tucker!), win an election in St. Lucia. The SLP lost 8 seats in the last election, but it was still a slim margin in terms of the popular vote. Even with the 16-1, lababad in ‘97, the UWP still managed to gain atleast 36% of the electorate. With such a solid base for each of the Current Parties holding seats, it is virtually impossible to get a foothold in a national election in St. Lucia. Im not even talking about financing such campaigns and the manpower which is needed to mount any kind of politcal race successfully
….And dem man go and diss Rick on his show! Garcon, go back to new york. In fact, dont go…stay in St. Lucia, and work hard, start a business, help with local organisations and NGOs. All the mistakes that could have been made have been made. Yall cudda atleast have a polical meeting before going on Rick Wayne….Matter of fact….I wouldnt go on Rick’s show if I was a politician. kenny is a Political G (to use the street vanacular), and he loose the last election to a 89 year old (we dont know his real age), because he appeared on Talk!! Go on Timothy’s Show (The reincarnation of Tim Rossert…he beleives that!), Check Andre! You can even go and Hale’Casse’ with Juke Bwa…Dont Go on Talk if You cah Talk!!!
Jason why this photo of Prudent??. He portrays a thug with the long gold chain,and inappropriate attire,for a photo ..one who wants to lead our people and set at least from inception a descent appearance and dress code . i guess as the biblical saying goes “render your hearts and not your garments”. This guy does an injustice to our lovely pitons as his photo background.. Question was he dressed in poor taste also on the show “TALK”??.. 2 hell with he is grass roots .. Clothes sure does compliment and define a man… TAKE THAT!!!
LPM’s website (www.lpmnow.org) shows the striking departure of this new LPM group from the rest. I see organization, planning, and a very firm grasp of the economic and social developed-country initiatives that will turn around the country and rid it of the overrated political bandits like Ali Baba and the gang. I dare to suggest that there may even have been some undercurrent of bad blood between the two media people on the set of Talk. Two male crabs they say cannot be in the same hole. But who cares? As the songs says, ‘two out of three ain’t bad’. There is every hope for Mr. Prudent and the rest of the underdog LPM, if they can get some more conscientious St. Lucians to come on board and rescue the country from its slippery slide to an ungovernable failed state.
just like i was thinking…more of the same….oh well
I believe in the need for a third party, but they have started on the wrong way by insulting the P.M by calling (dumb).
This is the one of many attidues we must change if we want to lead our people to a better way of life as we are seeing it away from St. Lucia.
It’s funny ,we left our Island to go and educate our selves but some of us return less educated than we left.(FACT).
Lucian P. movement and their no idear planning do not speak for many of us that is currently residing out of the Island.
I am currently looking for people with business knowledge and commonsense visionaries to form a diplomatic party.
Interested ,please email apcharles@sympatico.ca
wasted oppurtunity…stlucia is ripe and ready for a new approach not more of the same old tired politics ……these guys are not leaders ,more like oppurtunist…..education is great however a leader is born hardly made…….red…yellow or green…..ladies time to take over…please
What is most clear again is that St. Lucians are quite happy with repeating the happy talk about percentages concerning their party’s bases. What seems oblivious to both sides, is the immaturity of an electorate which fails to take into account the performance and harmful effects of two party musical chairs game every five years or so. They vote their party colours. The party delegates select jailbirds, drug barons, social misfits, and the poorly educated who are clueless and care less about leading St. Lucia to a higher level of living. The party hacks are joyous in the mistakes of one of the personalities wishing to give us a start, and like sheep they bleat the learned responses from our manipulators. On the present trend, it will get far worse before it gets better. Let’s keep talking the same old rubbish. It is comfortable. Our relatives from abroad will always send us barrels so that we can keep us from being hungry. Our leaders cannot inspire us to expand our horizons any further than to secure our very basic needs of food clothing. See are not doing so well in the water department even. And that is a basic need. A country they say, always gets the government that it deserves. Therefore, we will vote based on the percentages and put more bandits in charge. We will starve based on the percentages while those bandits make of fool of us and portray their psycho friends as role models for the rest of us to accept. Tourists will continue to remark how beautiful the island is, if they survive the holdups and the shootings. St. Lucia may remain a paradise for visitors but for St. Lucians themselves, a hell hole.
Then stay away from our hellhole, we only have room for one Saint.
how about them askin Flavia Cherry
to join dem
heh,heh,heh
I was listerning to Prudent on the Agenda yesterday with Dave Samuels , and boy was he good. It was an all round performance that ranked an A in my book. This guy has a future in politics.
Can someone show how Therold Prudent could beat Spider in the up-coming elections?
Until a leader can ask the people of St. Lucia, how and where they would like to see their nation grow? Then, all who try leading with their selfish agenda are conning the country and simply taking care of their pension and that of their family and close friends. So any third party has to start with the people first.
The fact remains Rupert, that the two political parties are as much institutions within the society as the Church, The School System etc. Most democracies exhibit the tendency to marshal into two competing political groups. It has almost become an evolutionary rule of democracies, with very few outliers. The problem is not with the political parties and their bases per se’ but rather with the electorate themselve. The electorate is simply not sophisticated enough to demand proper representation or “qualified candidates” from the respective political parties. While it will be argued in this forum, it is an unadultarated fact, that countries with high levels of tertiary (university) graduates, enjoy better governance, and by extension higher income levels, lower crime rates and overall higher standards of living and life chances. This in fact is the logical conclusion of no other than our very own Sir Arthur Lewis. While the ministry of educaton touts nobel laureate week, very few within this department or the government have seen it fit to read what he had to say. What we need in St. Lucia is investment in Education, allowing for our youth to be given atleast the option to gain the credentials and knowledge to allow them to compete within the region and the world. And anonymous is right!!! These guys are wasting their time. If King is “dumb” then it wouldnt be too hard for Macdonald to replace him, kick out the super six and, run as political leader and win the election agianst kenny…..or y not become a member of the SLP, and challenge Kenny to a runnoff for party leader….or Challenge the ONE guy to a run off to relive him of his multiple appearances as a leader of a party…..with no base!!! See…I knew having a base was important!!!!
Even in the face of my dwindling faith in politics, I remain strong in my belief for a third party in St Lucia. I don’t know the motives of the LPM, whether it be selfish or genuine but what I do know is that it would auger well for the political future of St Lucia. This is one faux pas…let it not be the first out of many more. I am particularly interested in the outcome of the upcoming elections. Oh and Prime minister King is a good man who means well for St Lucia. Although he has made many mistakes and may not be the most effective, the fact remains that he is our leader and we all should respect him and if we do criticize, don’t do so in the maispwi fashion that we have grown so used to.
“They say politics means never having to say you’re sorry. It shows weakness. And you never know when mistakes can go right and you can claim credit instead of taking blame for them.”
That about sums up the problem with politics in St. Lucia - I see politicians apologizing all over the world all the time, granted, in a politically astute way, but this attitude quoted above seems to fit St. Lucia in politics and in many places of ‘responsibility’.
It’s when we all learn another way of doing things, a way where apologizing does not equate weakness, taking responsibility is a good thing, making things work, not hiding things deep is what people demand and what people do themselves and holding people responsible for what they do, hat we will break free of the cycle.
There will always be a minority of people bucking the system, but when that minority is the people who are trying to do the right thing, then we have a problem,
I don’t know if this new party will make any difference, it’s a long time we’ve needed (like many Caribbean countries) more than 2 parties, so I hope people don’t stop trying to make that happen.
My advise to LPM : Pick yourself up, dust up and continue walking. One bad mistake by one member and bad as it seems is not the end of your party.
Two sorry azz losers….Their artificial intelligence is no match for natural stupidity.Sorry I plead the fifth.
King is leading his way, wrong or right that is what it is, I remain without judgement.
I know mr. prudent from growing up in gros-islet and have seen his political savy through the 80’s. I dont know the other two members of his new political party but i think its a great idea a native son has returned to contribute to his country. mr. prudent is a hard worker. I am curiuos to hear his platform and hope the st. lucian public do the same. st. lucian can be very sturborn to put it mildly when it comes to politics. for two long this country has been two dimmensional when it comes to plitics, its time for us to think ‘avatar’ , yeah three dimensional politically.
I concur with Trinity. If one’s leadership has to be questioned as in the case of Prime Minister King, it has to be done in a mature way. When we have the desire to seek power and to represent a country, we never begin with name calling; we are indeed portraying ourselves as worse than. Everyone has a right to criticize a government if he or she is dissatisfied, but in a respectful way. First impressions are lasting and no matter how much Mc Donald tries to correct it now, it may not have the desired effect. In addition, the picture does not portray a prospective leader. It portrays someone who is just hanging out in some social forum.
The way in which a country makes the best decisions for its people is through education and this is one of our biggest mistakes. An investment in education can alter people’s mindset and hopefully make them use higher level skills. In turn, this investment can boost our human resource and make us more productive. Remember that we lack natural resources so we have to use what we have. Having a third party will not alter people’s thinking; education does.
Everyone who wants to make a contribution to making St. Lucia a better place should be commended, but I don’t believe that it is through having new parties. We do not only need to alter our thinking, but we need to choose good representation and change the way in which people are elected into our government, we need to learn how to work with others, we need to foster good relationships and so many other things need to be done. I know that they will not occur overnight, but we need to at least try.
Look at the successful countries, although many of them are dealing with economical issues among others, we need to acknowledge one thing about them, their high level of literacy - this simply means that they have invested and are continuing to invest in education.
Saint Lucia is a mystical place and mostly everything comes in a pair or pairs to keep the balance, the Ying Yang. Three is an odd number and that’s why a third party has never worked, 4 but not 3.
Like Haiti, St. Lucia is deeply anti-intellectual. I believe that the two Nobel laureates is a fluke. Thank God, they found outlets in Trinidad and other countries to grow and develop. St. Lucia was too backward to help them. They were nurtured in other countries where the uneducated do not feel the need to boast, with extremely glowing pride, that they are backward regarding what it takes to make it to developed country status. Do you think that this crop of ministers have a clue about what it would take to reduce the poverty level from where it is at nearly 40% today?
It is little wonder that we have a cabinet of ministers where the Opposition won its case, where the entire cabinet had its hands stuck in the cookie jar, and where another comedian from this same cabinet stood up recently, in this the 21 century, and suggested that his government take an IMF loan and put it in a bank to collect interest and hand the loan back to the IMF. Such complete idiocy has never found such growing acceptance and favor at home until now. Good luck St. Lucia! Life is better overseas! Maybe we might come to visit as tourists and enjoy the scenery like Bachelor.
Rupert St. Lucia has brain power, it’s just evolving from seed, the Nobel winners are just the flowering of two from that garden. Take some time to meet St. Lucians and you will change tour attitude and judgement about this wonderful island. The IMF is simply a trap to keep developing countries poor, their business comes with too many restrictions and rules that favour only IMF.
@Rupert Polius… Why even comment if life is better overseas? On any given night there are up to 2 million homeless Americans so if this is better then you can keep it.
On any given night they say that almost four out of ten St. Lucians are below the poverty line and they are loving it.
It’s better to be poor and have a roof over your head than poor and homeless, out in the brutal cold and knowing that your country is rich and no one gives a damn about you.
Anyways, 40% is a lie.
Rupert:
Poverty is a form of genocide, there is nothing loving or funny about this. If you really care and are interested in St. Lucia, ask yourself why it is that after hundreds years of inhumane slavery the peoples of this island have never been compensated for their forced service? Ask yourself how long and how many generations are required for real wealth to form? It’s very easy for you to sit and judge but the reality is that most St. Lucians are very hard working people. Your problem is that they are not conformist , they do not fit your ideals and so you paint a very unfair image of St. Lucia. Before you judge get to know us, you will fall in love and never want to leave paradise.
When will we get political leaders, or “would be” political leaders that actually
present ideas, solutions , based on research, hard work and a wish to move st. Lucia forward. I am tired of the petty name calling. How about we put st. Lucia first, petty vendettas and ego boosting have no place, especially when presenting a new party. How about telling us what ideas you have for crime, water, economic diversification etc. Let your presentation be well thought out, well researched and realistic.
Ps- loose the tshirt, you don’t look credible in it
Everyone has try to run the beautiful landof my birth andhs fail ., King is trying but is need some presure. I was real shock and pround to see prundent going in to politics but iam ready t give him all my support .