LETTER TO DR. KENNY ANTHONY: PLEASE BE PATRIOTIC . . . GIVE PIERRE ROOM TO BREATHE!

The late George Odlum was on the button with his assessment of regional colleagues: “Caribbean politicians do not resign. They must be hounded out of office.”  It is time for Dr. Kenny Anthony to do the right thing, in the best interests of party and country. Time to put patriotism before pride and gracefully slide out to allow the St. Lucia Labour Party a real chance at victory in the next general elections. And while I have no way of knowing when the prime minister might ring the election gong, Dr. Anthony is well placed to know the prime minister is constitutionally free to call a snap election whenever convenient. After all, Dr. Anthony did just that in 2016, disastrously.    

Following his second election loss, Dr. Anthony hurriedly resigned as leader of the SLP but he clung to the Vieux Fort south seat that he’d won by less than 200 votes—against a no-name candidate notorious for his lackluster campaigning. In most democracies it is the convention that a defeated party leader hands in his resignation as a sign of respect to his colleagues and in the best interests of the party generally. In short, he takes responsibility for the electoral defeat. Of course, dependent on the circumstances the party executive may decide not to accept a leader’s withdrawal—proof of confidence in his leadership.  

The fact that Philip Pierre is now the leader of the SLP only validated the widespread belief that responsibility for the party’s unexpected defeat at the 2016 polls belongs to Dr. Anthony. Allen Chastanet’s resounding, surprising victory amounted to a national vote of no confidence in the style and policies of Kenny Anthony’s leadership. His misjudgments, his refusal to account for several troubling issues had rendered him dangerous.

It is an acknowledged truth that Pierre is uniquely qualified and experienced to be Saint Lucia’s next Prime Minister. He skillfully served the country as Tourism Minister and Minister of Infrastructure and has represented the East Castries Constituency in Parliament for five consecutive terms. He serves honorably with distinction and has avoided the stench of corruption, although some may say he is guilty by association.  He has a passion for people, for which he credits his teacher mother and policeman father, who instilled in him the values of hard work, discipline and morality. 

But Pierre faces a monstrous problem. He is burdened with the dead weight of the failed policies and leadership of Dr. Anthony, which the ruling party will certainly hang around his neck at election time. It will be an uphill battle convincing the electorate he contributed little to Kenny Anthony’s decisions, even though at least one commission of inquiry has proved the prime minister often acted alone and outside the country.  Frenwell, Grynberg, the back from the dead Juffali affair immediately come to mind. Pierre’s unappreciated loyalty to Dr. Anthony could prove his Sisyphean stone if he does not act now.  

I put it to Dr. Kenny Anthony: It is not fair to Philip Pierre, considering the way you isolated him from most of your decisions, decisions that turned out to be inimical to the country’s best interests. You flipped on a major promise and implemented as the country’s savior a tax you earlier had described as  “oppressive, anti-worker and anti-poor.” You launched the problematic Citizenship by Investment Program, only to say later you “always had anxieties” about it.  Your so called New Labour copycat idea proved your lack of political imagination, innovation and vision—a repudiation of the party’s theme of Bread, Freedom and Justice. You isolated the party from its base and lost the trust of the electorate. Your destructive arrogance cost the party the support of the country’s independent thinkers. Sir, you even called a snap election without prior consultation with key personnel. They were caught with their pants around their ankles. Pierre’s loyalty to his party and to you should not be rewarded by you handing his opponents a concrete slab to place around his neck as he strives to swim out of the mess you created around him.  

Dr. Anthony, you know Philip as I do, he will probably read this and immediately demonstrate his anger at me for writing it. But then we’ve known each other a very long time and he knows I’m an independent thinker and writer. I gave much thought to putting my thoughts on paper. I finally decided to write because someone’s got to tell you what you already know—even though Philip is on this occasion more concerned with your feelings than with the harm you can do the party’s election chances by sticking around. Remember how in 1997 Vaughan Lewis’ election chances were sunk by John Compton’s history? Prove you are the man some imagine you to be. Do the right thing for our party. Step aside before you are shoved by the electorate to the political curb with the rest of the team. Help restore the shine to Labour. You did it once by coming in; do it again by leaving.   

Nicholas Joseph is a former editor for the STAR. He recently earned a BA in Journalism from Georgia State University.