By his own account, he is totally fit and ready to be prime minister of Saint Lucia. He says he has served the St. Lucia Labour Party faithfully and long under several political leaders, the last of whom was a complete failure. Philip J. Pierre, commonly referred to as Pip, hardly mentioned his academic qualifications, perhaps thinking that accountancy may be inadequate for the onerous task of the office of prime minister.
On this Creole-speaking Caribbean rock, we are not used to questioning people who offer themselves as candidates for elections. We question less those who take the further step of contesting the political leadership of their party. Had loyalty and longevity alone been sufficient qualifications for the job of political leader, Philip J. Pierre would have achieved that status a long time ago. That he has subsumed his own personal ambitions for the good of his party is seen by some as commendable. Others see it as a lack of appetite for the top job, thereby dismissing Pip as unambitious. The lack of vision and statesmanship that has bugged the SLP in Pip’s time has led many to question his purported loyalty.
I have known Philip J. Pierre a very long time. I knew his older brother Bert even better. My father respected Mr. Pierre senior, their dad, as a law-abiding citizen and senior police officer. One of the better moments George Odlum and I spent in London in the 70s was with Bert and his Jamaican-born wife.
Pip, in my political judgment, may well deserve a shot at the Prime Minister’s desk. Unfortunately, it is a status he is unlikely to achieve for the following reasons. He has served for too long with people who taught their followers to hate and vilify their opponents. He remained silent when his leaders and other servants of his party abused their offices. Of late, there has been little political education of the masses, and the SLP has not taught the poor how to fish. Instead, they have chosen handouts and dependency over hands-up.
That is anathema to the party George Charles and his colleagues founded. That lost tribe is not the party that George Odlum, Peter Josie and Frances Michel joined in the early 1970s. These three encouraged the metaphorically dead to take up their beds and walk. Their regular coaxing helped transform the Castries market steps into the “University of the People”. That ‘new’ SLP spent more time explaining the history and politics of the black people of Saint Lucia in a way that brought pride and new dignity. They explained why colonialism and neo-colonialism were economic systems designed to keep the people poor, illiterate and backward. These had to be destroyed and replaced with pride, hard work and self-belief before the people could truly be free.
Pip had joined the SLP early enough to have rubbed shoulders with the above mentioned trio. He must have learned much. Still, if he wishes to make further steps in politics, he must dissociate himself from the contagious twisted minds in the top ranks of his party. In cleansing the party, he must remember that in order to make an omelette, one must break eggs. The corrupt dead-weight that stands between him and the creation of a clean, new SLP must be exorcised.
His present situation as leader is a good opportunity to remake the SLP and cleanse it of the corrupt, bad blood. He should quickly return to a policy of allowing prayers which everyone must accept, or leave the party. Pip must bite the bullet and return the party to the most High God, leading it by faith and example. Pip should read again the transformative story of the Biblical Saul to the man Paul, on whose writings so much of the New Testament rests. He needs a change of that magnitude to successfully guide the SLP towards a new horizon. He may also wish to cast himself as the Biblical Moses, who led his people to the Promised Land.
He must vow to faithfully serve the people of Saint Lucia without animosity or ill will towards anyone—citizen or foreigner. To put it bluntly, Pip must cleanse himself of all the evil and negative forces around him if he is to emerge as a person the people of Saint Lucia can trust as they trusted John Compton and as they now trust Allen Chastanet. He must promise the people of Saint Lucia that he will investigate certain corrupt financial deals that took place in the SLP government and which were hidden from him and his colleagues.
Pip’s greatest test will come from the wrath of the psychologically damaged SLP hacks and others who will do anything to protect themselves. He knows by now that every UWP member who leaves and joins the SLP will be welcome with open arms. The SLP is like a bottomless pit into which spent forces congregate. Yet, the SLP behaves like a raging bull if any member leaves and joins the UWP. Why? Is the SLP the jealous man who will kill his woman or girlfriend if she decides to leave him? Isn’t the woman free to escape an abusive man? Control freaks are dangerous. Pip must be careful!
Perhaps the SLP and the UWP, in the interests of the women of this country, should agree on a joint declaration on the question of abuse, whatever its forms. Pip may wish to take the lead in such a joint negotiated political position. That would be a plus for him, for politics and for our country.
Pip ought to be made aware that since the mid-1960s the Labour Party has consistently presented a superior intellectual slate of candidates for general elections in Saint Lucia. Unfortunately, academic achievements have often been negated by flawed character and personal greed, making them unfit to govern. In addition to surrounding himself with a new and more socially acceptable group of men and women, Pip must insist that each member of his team possesses the quality of humility and that they place complete trust in the power of truth and verifiable facts over obeah and evil. Pip must be reminded that every politician who has made a mark on Saint Lucia, including SLP founder and leader George F.L. Charles, had to leave the organisation. Pip may not need to do that. Instead, he must seize the forty-year anniversary of Independence and his 40 years in the SLP to make his own indelible mark.
He must ponder the significance of forty in Christianity. He must look again at the number of chapters in my first book Shattered Dreams and know that these forty chapters were not chosen by fluke. I need not remind him that only the truth shall set him and his people free. That truth may even lead him to the office for which he considers himself most suited.
