Teo Ah Khing’s “dearest prime minister” turns out to be anything but to trusting St. Lucians!

[dropcap]T[/dropcap]he political bombshell that Rick Wayne casually tossed viewers during his TALK presentation on Thursday October 18 must have left many slack-jawed, shocked and angry. His introductory reference to the mid-80s killing of a handcuffed Yamaha by the police may also have caused viewers to shake their heads and mutter, “Here he goes again.” But such unresolved killings are an unsavoury legacy of our justice system about which many would prefer not to be reminded. Regardless, the show’s host seemed determined not to permit viewers the convenience of pretending unspeakable horrors never happened; or that they should be forgotten after a time, whether or not appropriately dealt with.

Former prime minister Kenny Anthony (left) has since June 2016 been painting a picture of Teo Ah Khing altogether different from what recently emerged from their private correspondence!

No sooner had our minds faltered in recalling the names of other victims of unsolved homicides, than bam! Rick unloaded another even more shocking bombshell concerning public matters of more recent vintage. The private correspondence between the former prime minister Kenny Anthony and Teo Ah Khing that Rick Wayne revealed last Thursday evening must have taken even Dr. Anthony’s most trusting apostles off guard. For me, the revelation was mind- boggling. Considering all we’ve heard from the opposition about DSH and its CEO, who would have imagined the sweetie-sweetie correspondence exchanged between Dr. Anthony and Teo Ah Khing several days before the last general elections? The information by itself, without all that was said about the DSH project soon after the current prime minister publicly announced it, would not necessarily have been damnable. In fact, one may even have credited the former PM on his efforts to seduce “Dear Teo” into establishing the DSH project in Saint Lucia as quickly as possible.

However, what reverberates most strongly in these disclosures is the conceit and arrogance of the former prime minister, especially in opposition. A mere six months after his party was removed from office, Dr. Anthony mounted his platform in Vieux Fort to continue his election-time failed effort at discrediting the man who had removed him from the prime minister’s chair, and to effectively declare dear Teo and DSH the new, most frightening prospect confronting Saint Lucia. He also reminded his Vieux Fort audience of the annual horse races he had promoted in the constituency, which I suspect was as much news to Vieux Fortians as it was to me.

The way the former PM and his SLP puppeteers began to rave and rant after the UWP government gave the DSH project its blessings, one would have thought that was the worst idea ever proposed. Yet, mere weeks prior to the June 2016 general elections, the former PM was still in secret talks with ‘dear Teo’ and suggesting suitable wording for demands that appeared troublesome to the former prime minister. What deceit! What hypocrisy! What utter disrespect for the people of Vieux Fort and Saint Lucia! Even the ordained of God were deceived. The pied piper of Hamlin with his cunning rhetoric had marched in the sweltering heat of Vieux Fort followed by the innocent, the uninformed and the naive. He pretended ignorance and objected to the DSH proposals, even though he had been the key negotiator with dear Teo.

It’s worth repeating that the tone of the exchanged emails between the former PM and Teo Ah Khing of DSH left the clear impression that the former PM was willing to find more suitable language in order to make the DSH proposals more acceptable, to him and his team. His chief concern was to deliver to Teo, whom he had described at his Vieux Fort meeting as too tough and inflexible, all he demanded. There has never been any doubt in my mind that the former PM had not spoken the whole truth to the people of Vieux Fort and Saint Lucia about the DSH project. Anyone who has followed my articles in this newspaper over the last year would know my feelings toward the anti-DSH protesters and their leader-in-chief.

Frankly, last Thursday’s TALK did not faze me. Neither was I caught off guard. My mind took flight to former Prime Minister John Compton who, I am reliably informed, had warned Saint Lucians against allowing such characters into their politics. I well recall George Murray, a former General Secretary of the SLP and a close friend and confidant of both John Compton and George Charles, telling me stories about the younger Compton and his encounters with the Barnards at the time of the historic Dennery valley strikes, in the early 1950s. Firearms were allegedly drawn.

Notwithstanding the late protestations of John Compton, the electorate voted as they pleased in those and subsequent elections. Now, twenty-odd years later, there is no John Compton to help return the island to sound economic health following the damage inflicted upon it by poor management and skewed political insight by the Labour Party misfits. Thankfully, today the people do not need anyone to explain to them what John Compton meant. For my part, I continue to thank God that I was gifted with the power of his holy spirit that drove me out of the Labour Party. Yes, I have finally revealed my secret weapon. I meant to do so in my autobiography, but it is a long work and far from completion. I’ve therefore decided to thank God here and now that I am no longer a part of the political horror story that the SLP has metamorphosed into. I would have died there, but for the grace of God.

Before ending, here’s a little titbit: After hurricane Allen had ravaged Saint Lucia in August 1980, I, as minister of agriculture, visited banana farmers at Mon Repos and held a meeting near Eddie Gaston’s place. Compton’s frequent visits overseas came up. Almost to a man, the gathering defended the former PM saying he was away “begging for bread for us, and securing our banana market”. I marvelled at their demonstrated confidence. My hope and prayer is that farmers will look as kindly upon today’s prime minister after Kirk as they once did Compton.    

In ending, I call upon the government once more to hurry up and get to the bottom of the cost overruns at St. Jude Hospital, and to seek help in investigating the Grynberg and Jufalli affairs. I am prepared to be surprised by any financial revelations of these three schemes, even as I continue to marvel at the disclosures contained in those pre-election email exchanges between “dear Teo” and his then “dearest prime minister!”