The emperor stands naked!

Prime Minister and Minister for Finance Kenny Anthony: Is he also the world’s worst negotiator?’

Obviously it never was a laughing matter that for some time now we’ve known we were in more trouble than we could possibly handle on our own—but pretended otherwise. It never was funny that we continued masochistically to inflict on ourselves potentially lethal wounds, while repeatedly placing our trust in the proffered remedies of charlatans who never gave a damn for anyone but themselves.

By the look of it, it’s just the way we’re made: suicide-bent, reckless and gullible beyond measure. We’ll set on fire our only shelter, perchance the larger home of our perceived enemy next door also goes up in flames. Which is another way of saying we live to spit at the sky.

Then there are the beggar’s genes we evidently inherited from lord alone knows whom or what (I suspect domesticated canines.) Few of us seem capable of imagining ourselves in a better situation, as averse as we’ve become to work or such toil as demands accountability. We are quite satisfied merely to get by, with as little sweat as possible.

Sadly, we’ve long been imprisoned with the notion that in our society only drug traffickers, thieves, corrupt politicians and betrayers of the public trust can rise above poverty, which explains the prevailing negative attitude to hard-working successful fellow citizens. Forget the contrary expressions, we’ve come to believe, not without cause, that crime not only pays, but pays big!

Not so long ago our politicians used to cite George Charles as a government leader who finally had to depend on the generosity of former opponent John Compton, only because he was never corrupt—conceivably their way of shamelessly saying they were determined never to discover themselves in similar straits. For such politicians, our integrity commission might as well never have been established.

Government after Saint Lucian government over the years has with impunity taken advantage of the public trust.

Whenever sustained citizen complaints have forced suspect administrations to set up commissions of inquiry, regardless of their outcomes, always the people had paid. Follow-up recommendations aimed at deterring repetition have never been taken seriously, let alone, publicly discussed.

And so we come to the latest insult to the national intelligence. Barely a month following his latest budget presentation, this is how the prime minister accounted for the dismal state of the nation’s economy:

“For some time now government has been spending more than it collects in revenue. The result is that government has had to borrow more and more money to finance its operations. Unfortunately more of government’s revenue has had to be directed towards paying salaries to public servants and repaying its debt. This, as most of you would agree, is neither healthy nor prudent. Sadly we have now arrived at the point where the operations of government cannot be sustained in the long run without some form of adjustments.”

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Nothing new here. Saint Lucians have from the early 90s heard the same sorry story from our insatiable puissant HOGs. That our governments have nearly always taken in far less than they spend has never deterred them from bringing into the public service more and more of their respective talentless supporters in search of high-paying jobs that required no work.

There was never anything “unfortunate” about the practice; always it has been unconscionable callousness.  John Compton had underscored the situation as far as back 1991: You pay out more than you take in, you end in bankruptcy. The present prime minister had himself spoken similarly in 1997. But see where his actions have landed us.

As if he were talking to imbeciles in no position to question him, the prime minister revealed during his latest address to the nation that his administration had started to address the “growing problem” last year—long after the horses had bolted—with what he described as “strong measures.”

Whatever were such measures, they did not touch any areas that might’ve discomfited the prime minister and his crew but also delivered some relief to the nation. He said his government had narrowed the “current account deficit to one million dollars, from $52.6 million in 2012/2013.” That achievement had been possible “because we undertook a strict streamlining of capital expenditure on goods and services, utilities, supplies and materials, and communication in addition to decreasing transfers and subsidies to statutory bodies and other government agencies.”

The government had also “realized better revenue performance due to a widening of the tax base through the implementation of the Value Added Tax.”

Hopefully, every Saint Lucian with a TV understood precisely what the prime minister was seeking to get across. Speaking for myself, I’d have preferred a more detailed accounting, specifics, and in language not borrowed from Paul Kruger’s “Weave a Wicked Web.”

I’d also have appreciated some justification for the further bloating of the public service payroll after 2011, egregious as already was the situation. I’d have appreciated some soupçon of expenses so far incurred thanks to Grynberg, to say nothing of an expression of remorse for the millions needlessly handed to Frenwell.

As for the fait accompli arrogance he demonstrated during the last budget by taking decisions in advance of discussions with the affected, while typical, should’ve
been explained and hopefully justified.

It made no sense to me that the demonstrated don’t-give-a-damn attitude, or incompetence, should further be encouraged. A company CEO in the prime minister’s situation would’ve been given his walking orders a long time ago, if not actually made to account for what totals up to a total betrayal of the trust placed in him by voters over the years. That he is demanding voluntary sacrifices from the victims of his policies shows, in our circumstances, palpable contempt for the hands that feed him!

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Rick Wayne

View Comments

  • Incomprehensible! In spite of all the rubbish politicians have dumped our way and continue to do, its unbelievable to to find out that there are literate people looking up to these mostly self serving parasites for deliverance. With some of the asinine pro-politician comments posted here, Its hardly a surprise that Saint Lucia was rated no too long ago as one of the dumbest nations in the world (2nd lowest IQ if I recall).

  • if you want jobs to come back and a better cost of living , VOTE ALLEN CHASTANET, dump Kenny "Disaster" Anthony.

  • I as going to make a comment but this paper seems to only publish views it agrees with. You have failed to publish my last three comments. Let me go to the Voice newspaper to make my comment on a very good article.

  • Vote ALLEN CHASTANET AND united worker`s party for better,
    Vote ALLEN CHASTANET AND the united worker`s party for work ,
    Vote ALLEN CHASTANET AND the united worker`s party to keep crime down,
    Vote ALLEN CHASTANET and the united worker`s party for vision and a better tomorrow,

    PEOPLE OF ST LUCIA VOTE THE UNITED WORKER`S PARTY FOR MORE MONEY IN UR POCKET`S

  • WE WANT the UNITED WORKERS PARTY BACK IN POWER ----BEFORE THIS DUMB EMPEROR BRING THIS COUNTRY INTO RIOT, WE WANT ALLEN CHASTANET A REAL SUPERMAN A MAN, WHO CAN MANAGE, AND CREAT JOBS ,ONE OF THE REASONS WHY THINGS TRUN OUT THE WAY IT DID IS BECAUSE ST LUCIA LABOUR PARTY PAYED THEM SELF HIGH SALARIES, WHILES UNEPLOYMENT KEEP GOING UP, ANOTHER FIVE YEAR`S THEN WHAT, PLEASE PEOPLE VOTE THE UNITED WORKER`S PARTY FOR BETTER SO YOUR BREAD WILL ALWAYS BE BUTTERED,

  • Yes yes yes, I see that that knives are out for Kenton. Does he deserve menacing blades of the sharpened cutlery? Most would agree he certainly does. However, to apportion blame solely his way for the turd pile that we are wallowing in, borders on the delusional. I recall being in the UK circa 2010 where my employer's company as well as several others were forced to shut down, thousands were losing their jobs and employees were VOLUNTARILY taking pay cuts to save theirs and their colleague's jobs. Meanwhile in Fantasy Lucia, public sector workers were harassing Kingo for a 16 percent pay hike. The sense of incredulity was palpable. Now we are simply seeing the chicks coming home...

  • Dr. Kenny ruined this island with debt and bad taste in clothes and house design. This man has got to be the one person in the world with no vision and bad taste. I am surprised he is so pregnant.

  • You know what is so astounding about this whole debacle Saint Lucians find themselves in?

    One idiot, brings an entire country to its knees and yet NOT ONE MAN has the Balls to stand up and empower the people to take full advantage of their Democratic Right to Protest and carry out a NO CONFIDENCE MOTION against the entire SLP cabinet.

    UNBELIEVABLE!!!

  • How was/is Allen Chastanet and co wrong? They are dead right for stating that economy is in 'A MESS'. Stop lying to our people Mr. PM. Kenny you know that your political career is virtually over, you are a master manipulator and exploiter - good riddance

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