Never mind what Saint Lucia’s constitution says. Some in the House, and regardless of what our Constitution might say to the contrary, insist on suggesting the prime minister and his tourism minister cannot feel as Saint Lucians feel because both are foreigners. The PM’s detractors point to the fact that his mother had delivered him in Martinique, but neglect to mention the medical reasons that left her no other choice. As for Dominic Fedee, though born in Guyana, he came here with his Saint Lucian father when he was fourteen years of age.
In all events, this is what the supreme law of the land says on the matter of citizenship at Chapter 7, Section 101: “A person born outside Saint Lucia after the commencement of this Constitution shall become a citizen at the date of his or her birth if, at that date, his or her father or mother is a citizen otherwise than by virtue of this section or Section 99(3).”
On Wednesday the former SLP chairman and Senate President Claudius Francis, toward the end of his Straight Up show, took a call from a listener. The voice suggested she was hardly a teenage fan. She started with some tough words about the prime minister’s disapproval of Jeannine Compton-Antoine as a replacement for the out-going National Trust director. The caller, continuing on the “abusive UWPs”, predictably segued to the “vindictiveness” demonstrated by the UWP administration. And then she went for the government’s collective jugular. “This man is not a Saint Lucian, Dominic Fedee. And he’s like he’s over Saint Lucian. He’s not a Saint Lucian! Jeannine Compton is Saint Lucian. Her father served the country.”
Francis cut her short, reminiscent of John McCain, when he admonished a supporter for suggesting Barack Obama was born in Africa. “No, no, no, no,” said the host of Straight Up. “I’m not getting involved in that. Dominic Fedee may not be a Saint Lucian by birth but he is a Saint Lucian. He is a citizen of Saint Lucia. So let’s not go into that. Let’s keep the criticisms valid because you see, those UWPs are so good, you make an entire book of factual comments, with just one mistake, and they’ll harp on it. So let’s never give them that.” The tone was that of a father scolding his 4-year-old daughter—ever so gently.
“Okay let’s no go into that,” said the caller, almost apologetically backing off. Clearly that was not the reaction she had counted on. Not in election season.
Just in case there were others of a mind similar to his last caller’s, Francis issued another warning, albeit sugared. “Yeah folks, we are setting the tone today. I am telling you I was very tolerant of crap and I believe in allowing people to speak. But if you’re going to show your utter stupidity by your comments, that’s not going to happen this year.”
When this reporter questioned Francis on the xenophobic comments from his party colleagues in the House, he said: “I’m not getting involved with what others said or didn’t say. I’m responsible only for what I’ve said, and I stand by it. That I am a Labour person doesn’t mean I support what other people say. The man [Fedee] is Saint Lucian and I will refer to him and treat him as a fellow Saint Lucian.”
As stated earlier, it has become quite normal to hear even show hosts implying the government is especially partial to “foreigners” because at least two of its members are also foreigners. One TV personality recently referred to Fedee as “that character who represents us from the foreign country”. Not quite precisely stated, but his message was not lost. The same media personality is often heard saying: “All Saint Lucians know by now that Allen Chastanet, the prime minister of this country, is not one of us. He cannot speak our language. He was not born here!” It is anyone’s guess as to which is worse: an inability to speak Kwéyòl or to have been born in one of our sister islands because of delivery complications beyond the talent of local medical staff. In any case, it is ludicrous to suggest Allen Chastanet cannot speak Kwéyòl because he was born at a Martinique hospital and was all of six days old when his mother took him home to his father in Saint Lucia. The line suggests that by virtue alone of where he was born, Allen Chastanet should be fluent in French!
Ironically, Allen Chastanet’s detractors often begin their diatribes by praising the departed Sir John Compton, recalling “his great service to this country” and so on. The inconvenient truth is that in his time Sir John was often castigated as a native of Bequia. It made headlines when Sir James Mitchell, while addressing a UWP convention at Gros Islet, poked fun at himself and his friend, the prime minister of Saint Lucia. His arm wrapped around Compton’s shoulders, the St. Vincent and the Grenadines PM said, with obvious pride: “The Vincie boys didn’t do badly for our countries!”
Sir John was 14 years old when he first came here with his Saint Lucian mother, later to place his stamp on almost everything worthwhile in sight, some of which are named in his honour. His deputy prime minister, Sir George Mallet, also took heat from their opposition, as several election pamphlets dating back to the mid-sixties indelibly confirm. In the meantime, we take special pride in native Saint Lucians and their foreign-born offspring who make it big in places like the UK, the United States, France and so on—whether in the arts, sport or politics. Then again, no one ever said prejudice had to be synonymous with intellect!
