[dropcap]C[/dropcap]ynics that have little faith in politics, and even less in politicians, must be beside themselves after hearing the news emanating from the bosom of the St. Lucia Labour Party. Others, more prone to objective observations, must have noticed the long distance love affair (rapprochement, if you prefer) between a certain loud-mouth political missfit, (who was rejected and expelled from the United Workers Party) and the day’s shameless SLP. The deceitful SLP hierarchy has embraced that loud-mouth who has been as critical of Prime Minister Chastanet as of them. To add insult to injury, the contradictions are unfolding simultaneously, adding spice to local politics.
Since the disclosure by Prime Minister Allen Chastanet in 2016 that certain proposals by a foreign multi-millionaire had been in the hands of the former government for two years prior to the last general elections, the SLP has not answered the charge. The former smart-men in the SLP government had hidden these proposals, and did not breathe a word of them during the last election campaign. Those who are distrustful of politics and politicians must have had their worst instincts confirmed believing that, had the SLP been returned to office, it would have foisted the DSH proposal down the throats of Saint Lucians, and the anti-Chastanet hypocrites would have gleefully swallowed it.
I dare say that the anti-Chastanet and anti-UWP noises do not faze the core elements of the electorate who voted for change two years ago. Few people have forgotten that the Stephenson King-led UWP would have won the 2011 elections had the party demonstrated the courage and dismissed the candidate whom the average voter from both parties believed was a negative force. Indeed, an HTS poll carried out after the 2011 general elections revealed that the majority of the electorate thought that the UWP lost because the electorate did not fully trust at least one of its candidates.
To Allen Chastanet’s everlasting credit, he had the guts to mobilize the party faithful of the UWP who had voted him as party leader, and got rid of what many considered a cancer on the body politic. Chastanet’s UWP believed the braggart needed to be discarded from the party. Of course, the recent developments within the SLP will, I feel certain, further animate the UWP from top to bottom. Money is crucial in obtaining the creature comforts of life. Even so, the more stoic Saint Lucians have a place for money in their lives, which does not come close to their belief in the supreme power of an almighty God who provides for the faithful, and those who obey his commandments.
It will not surprise the cynics among us that Richard Frederick has finally arrived on the same platform as those persons who had most disparaged him, saying that he was the most threatening thing that had happened in the politics of Saint Lucia. When Frederick stood on the SLP platform and announced that he would lead the charge to remove Prime Minister Chastanet by this December, the leaders of the SLP were all seated on the same platform, applauding him. So why finger political leader Philip J. Pierre as the only one responsible for Frederick’s arrival in the bosom of the SLP? Pierre has never given clear evidence of political independence and strength and it seems doubtful he, and he alone, was responsible for Frederick’s presence on that SLP platform.
The reported challenge to Pierre’s leadership is both interesting and revealing, though not altogether unexpected. It is happening contemporaneously as some SLP hacks, pretending an interest in the island’s national heritage, try to frustrate the government’s efforts at dismantling a decrepit and long forgotten prison, to build in its place a new police headquarters and court house in Castries.
Those of us with more than a passing interest in politics know instinctively that Kenny Anthony would never ever permanently give up the leadership of the SLP to Philip J. Pierre, or to anyone else.
For my part, one reason might be that Anthony does not trust Pierre to support and defend him when the crunch comes, as it ought to. He may also fear that Pierre would expose his (Anthony’s) lack of management skills by the way he (Pierre) communicates ideas for the social and economic development of the country. It is said that God works in mysterious ways his wonders to perform. Richard Frederick is a man who has spoken as a true believer about God on his talk shows. I have said before about him, and I will repeat it here, you may fool some people with your God line, but you can never fool God. Besides, the only path that can lead to a return to politics as a candidate in a general election in Saint Lucia is that which displays your United States of America visa for all the sceptics to see and feel for themselves.
Whatever Saint Lucians here and in the USA may think about US President Donald Trump, given the chance of a US visa to travel to that country, the majority of our people would grab the US visa with both hands. And so will Richard Frederick and his friends, no matter what they may say on and off the media and public political platforms about Chastanet or Trump. I repeat: God is good, and if my friends in the UWP understand anything about politics, they will know that their prayers are being answered and that the presence of Richard Frederick on the political platform of the SLP must be viewed as a blessing from God. I say no more. Instead, I pray that the people of Saint Lucia will witness for themselves the events that are unfolding within the SLP that will make even their staunchest supporters bow their heads in shame.
