of the United Workers Party. The question is: Who’s killin’ whom softly . . .
with his song?
[dropcap]O[/dropcap]n June 14, after an extended absence, the United Workers Party returned to the William Peter Boulevard. The rally was held as one of the activities to mark the UWP’s two years in office. The boulevard was filled with supporters, many attired from head to toe in yellow, the party colour. The night had both elected ministers and senators accounting, some in person, others via video—an interesting touch. The audience was fully warmed up by the time Guy Joseph took his turn with the microphone.
Arguably the UWP’s fastest gun, the parliamentary representative for Castries Southeast seemed in a mood
to make waves. He opened with a tantalizing bang: “I want to touch on the fact that when we came into government this country was in chaos. It was a mess! Tonight I will expose the Labour Party that is scared to death of the United Workers Party under the leadership of Allen Chastanet.”
Mr. Joseph soon shifted his attention to another target. Praising the current health minister, he claimed: “The ministry of health today is performing better after two years than it did for five years under Alvina Reynolds.” A blazing Guy Joseph then called out more than half of the elected opposition members: “I’m challenging them tonight. I want Phillip J. Pierre, Kenny Anthony, Moses Jn. Baptiste and Alva Baptiste. I want to debate them on St. Jude!”
What came next could not have been more of a surprise: “I want it to be a public debate and I am tonight nominating as moderator of the show, Rick Wayne.”
The key word in that statement was to my mind “show”. A show unlikely to materialize, for several reasons, beginning with his choice of moderator who has long stated that the House is the place for public debates, moderated by the Speaker. Of course, the MP for Castries Southeast had himself ignored several open invitations to appear on TV with his once upon a time parliamentary colleague Richard Frederick.
At the risk of being blown away by a whirlwind, Mr. Joseph turned to a subject currently under investigation, or soon to be. “Kenny Anthony, after 17 years, has not answered one question on Grynberg. I think the people of Saint Lucia and the supporters of the Labour Party who say that they love Saint Lucia . . . they are all entitled to question Kenny Anthony about Grynberg, and what deal he and Earl Huntley made on the seabed.”
“When I spoke to the attorney general during the week,” Joseph said, “he told me are still fighting the case to get back the seabed of Saint Lucia.”
The SLP fired back a response on Tuesday: “ The SLP believes that the issues surrounding the completion of St. Jude are of a technical nature, and Mr. Joseph is not qualified . . . to opine on these issues.” As for the Grynberg matter, the SLP had no comment. Maybe, that will come next Tuesday!
