Kenny You Can’t!

Inquiring minds want to know: Is calypsonian Papa Vader the one who has started the calypso season early with “You can’t” or was he hired to write the particular song for the purposes of the Saint Lucia Labour Party’s election campaign? Kenny Anthony and his redministration are leaving no cess-pit unturned in their efforts to distract the people from the day’s serious health and bread and butter issues. The objective is mass distraction by any means, at whatever cost to the country. What was the prime minister’s objective when he attempted to sling mud all over Allen Chastanet from the IMPACS bucket?

There has not been a day when this SLP redministration has not tried to make the opposition responsible for every evil in this country, from voodoo to unemployment to IMPACS. Didn’t this redministration inherit a monthly stipend for student nurses; didn’t it inherit a stipend for teachers attending training school to help them offset some expenses associated with advancing themselves to serve the people? Didn’t it inherit a subsidized school transportation system to take students residing outside Castries safely to and from school?

Why were these inherited good UWP policies dismantled? Is the SLP able to dismantle only the good? In the face of a disappointed and aggrieved nation, this SLP leader seems to believe in his heart that a catchy calypso by a beloved performer will pull the wool over the eyes of the people? Kenny you can’t!

It is a fact that this administration’s achievements are over–hyped, while its many giant failures, including the new Citizenship by Investment Programme, mounting public debt and the questionable announcement of an imaginary Diabetes Research Centre for Saint Lucia are secreted away from the prying eyes of the public. Well, guess what? Even if the country is politically divided, when it comes
to covering up your unimpressive track record, Kenny you can’t!

This cadre of politicians who created a monster in the form of the IMPACS Investigation and Report is also well known for yet another monster called “Better Days” created by feeding the people copious amounts of false promises. Now on the road to a national election, the Kenny Anthony administration is resorting to childish and random attempts to pass the buck on to the members of the Opposition. Please Mr. Prime Minister, take responsibility for this national security disaster. The prime minister is trying to implicate the Opposition, but Kenny you can’t!

The harsh reality that the prime minister has been masking and sugar–coating for the sake of political expedience is that the Saint Lucia economy has experienced consecutive years of decline under his watch. We refer back to declines in 2012, 2013, and likewise worrying contractions in 2014 and 2015. By all indications Saint Lucia’s fiscal position has deteriorated under Labour. So when Kenny Anthony wants to make the people forget that they were simply exploited for votes in 2011, Kenny you can’t!

In fact this Labour party has proven it lacks the skills set, intellectual agility and creativity to steer the ship of state. It has had the chance to prove itself and has failed miserably. The United Workers Party warned the people that putting a Labour government into power would sink this country into an abyss of hopelessness. Now it is time to show slate, and the redministration wants to avert a landslide defeat. Kenny you can’t!

The so-called shrewd economic policies of Labour have proved to be anything but. The national debt has long surpassed 80 percent of gross domestic product. A truly shrewd prime minister would have tried to reverse this trend by decreasing the public debt. After four years, Kenny Anthony thinks he can make the people forget how this government sought to cut public salaries by five percent. Oh, no, Kenny you can’t!

Dr. Kenny Anthony, his cabinet and their cronies are still talking about “the circumstances” they inherited from the UWP. As it is, Labour’s policies have exacerbated pre-existing chronic weaknesses in critical sectors.

There has been an embarrassing nose dive in Saint Lucia’s Ease of Doing Business standing. The stoic Chamber of Commerce tried keening quietly but as things unraveled under this government some issues came to a head. With no obvious succour forthcoming from this SLP redministration, the Chamber has had to go the way of the media to highlight its anxieties.

Saint Lucia’s development in tourism, construction, manufacturing, agriculture and the much touted foreign direct investment does not support this government’s propensity for self–praise. These sectors have been sluggish at best. The incumbent reeks of bad management of Saint Lucia. So when the prime minister is seen dancing on TV and declaring he is a champion ready to do champion things, well, Kenny you can’t!