Only Madmen And Fools Spit At The Sky . . . And That’s No Lie!

[dropcap]T[/dropcap]hat I do not readily recall the species of fly that had invaded the opposition leader’s soup during a particular budget debate proves how forgettable are molehills dressed up to look like mountains. On the other hand, I remember well Prime Minister John Compton’s reaction at a subsequent William Peter Boulevard rally. His tone reminiscent of a father painfully disappointed in a favorite son, he said: “It’s all well and good—and in keeping with the democratic process—for one political organization openly to oppose the policies of another. But some things transcend political ambitions. It is altogether counterproductive to make rash and foolish statements that serve only to weaken public confidence in the current and future governments of Saint Lucia. When we speak in parliament, we should always be mindful of the impact on ears at home and abroad. In the national interest, and notwithstanding our insatiable lust for power, some things are better left unspoken.”

What Julian Hunte had said in a fit of pique was that the day’s House decision would be reversed should his party win the next general elections. Evidently the electorate took him at his word. Not long after his conniption during the recalled mid-80s budget debate, Julian Hunte’s political career took an irrevocable about-turn into the toilet.

The main beneficiary of Hunte’s bombast was Kenny Anthony, whose Labour party set a local record in 1997 when it won 16 of the 17 parliamentary seats in contention. Hunte,     having chosen to test his mettle against the relative newcomer, was among the worst casualties. Alas, he was not able to save his deposit. Which is not to say, the new champion benefitted from the lesson for which Hunte had paid so dearly.   

In 2009, with his party back in opposition, Kenny Anthony let it be known from the steps of the Castries market that he would counsel potential investors to stay away from Saint Lucia and its corrupt new government. Recordings of this outrageous declaration remain on the Internet to this day and maybe will forever. It remains conjectural whether the relative lack of investor interest in Saint Lucia since 2011 can be blamed on a particular Internet advertisement starring the island’s former prime minister.

More recently, Philip J. Pierre, the present leader of the party in whose name Hunte and Anthony had spoken at great cost to national and personal ambitions, further validated Karr’s legendary observation that some things never change. While referencing recent adjustments to Saint Lucia’s Citizenship by Investment Programme, launched Hollywood-style in 2016 by Kenny Anthony’s Labour administration in Monaco,

Philip J. Pierre—echoing Hunte—pledged that all successful CIP applications in the time of the Allen Chastanet government will be reviewed, should he discover himself in the prime minister’s chair. Additionally, that the recently reduced price for Saint Lucian citizenship will likely be increased.

Few were surprised last week to learn via the UK’s Financial Times that Saint Lucia’s is the least successful of the CIP programs offered by five Caribbean territories, with Dominica’s topping the list. According to the report: “Inaugurated in January 2016, St. Lucia’s Citizenship by Investment Programme is the newest economic citizenship programme to emerge from the Caribbean, and is its most politically divisive. Early changes to the contribution thresholds under the programme, as well as the removal of unique features such as the $3m net worth requirement and the 500-applicant annual cap, opened the programme to criticism within St. Lucia’s political establishment. It also generated uncertainty, as the opposition pledged to review all successful applications for citizenship—and potentially ask for larger contributions—upon returning to power.”

Imagine if the current prime minister should now counter-promise that whatever changes to the CIP are made by a Labour government will again be readjusted upon his own party’s return to office. All of that when the Kenny Anthony government that introduced the CIP in 2016 had strongly implied the program was the only possible lifebelt available to a persistently poor and deprived nation fast-drowning in debt. Asked why the government had chosen to announce the program in Monaco without advance notice to Saint Lucians, an administration spokesperson replied: “Because that is where they money is!”

Since the Financial Times report, the opposition party has been seeking to downplay the underscored impact of its recalled public statements on the island’s CIP. Meanwhile the unsettling allegations and fake news continue to proliferate. This week, with a widely promoted opposition march scheduled for tomorrow, a story appeared in the Miami Herald that seems to accuse the government of involvement with a Florida businessman of alleged ill repute. I say “seems” since few of the article’s cautiously stated claims are immediately verifiable. For the most part, it is stale fish newly wrapped in transparent red paper.

Then there was this that anonymously appeared online on Monday (at any rate, that’s when I first read it, with concern): “Cabinet memo to relieve all 600 plus workers at Victoria Hospital has been sent to the executive director, the PS of Health, Felix St. Hill, the DPS Ms Verena Calderon, PS of the public service Don Louisy and the president of the Nurses’ Association Alicia Baptiste. The deadline for everyone to be terminated is September 15, 2018 and they may reapply when positions are advertised . . . We are calling on the CSA, NWU, Police Welfare Association, Seaman and Waterfront, SLTU etc to stand in solidarity with the nurses, including everyone who has a sick relative or acquaintance at VH . . .”

On Wednesday the president of the nurses’ association appeared on media outlets, as did the health ministry’s permanent secretary, to declare the above altogether fake and demoralizing. So, too, a recorded interview. The prime minister, who is off-island, also dismissed the items as false. And now there is widespread speculation that the posted announcements are related to tomorrow’s Labour Party protest march. As I write there has been no public reaction from the organizers.

A local hotel has also described as “mischief” an online invitation to protest against the resort’s planned takeover of a Laborie beach. In the meantime, the late Sir John Compton’s warning remains as valid today as it was back in the mid-80s when the prime minister addressed an ambitious opposition leader’s threat to reverse established official policy the minute he was in a position to do so.