Time to take a break from ‘protecting the victory’ to protect St. Lucians!

On Sunday, November 27, 2022 Saint Lucia’s prime minister delivered a    national address on crime that, not at all surprising, drew much public reaction, mostly disappointing. Some considered the speech uninspiring. Others described it as “naked,” and there were those who declared it a waste of air time. While by now it should be obvious that I’m not the president of this prime minister’s fan club, I nevertheless find myself in agreement with one of his observations:

“Small infractions of the law, not speaking the truth, threats, malicious gossip, envy, peddling lies and hatred on the internet and airwaves, domestic violence and child abuse, may appear small in comparison to homicides. But we know how seemingly small issues snowball into larger social problems.”

I wondered whether the prime minister really understood his own message. He had himself ignored several infractions of the law. (How are small and large infractions measured, anyway?) The programmed protectors of his much ballyhooed July 26, 2021 victory continue to tout him, despite contradictory evidence, as their “five-star general,” the “most-reddied person for the job of prime minister”—not forgetting the most recent “Moses of the East” blasphemy.  

This PM is no general. A five-star ostrich, perhaps! Whenever he encounters what strikes him as a “small infraction of the law,” his predictable reaction is to head for the nearest crab-hole in which to bury his confused head.  

Let’s start with hatred over the internet and airwaves. Why was Mr. Pierre over the last several years stuck in mute mode while his soldiers further polluted the internet with illiterate toilet-wall propaganda? If only he had at least pretended during the 2021 election campaign to caution them about the disrespect shown Allen Chastanet and others associated with the United Workers Party. If only he had not permitted himself, for most of five years, to look like a jeer leader, perhaps we might’ve been spared the deadly fall-out from his party’s dirty-tricks department, and the vile threats by folks who previously preached a different gospel but now cower in silence behind dark curtains. The prime minister’s “small infractions” have certainly “snowballed.”

We heard nothing from Mr. Pierre on the sad occasions when one of his more conspicuous enablers publicly incited her witchy brethren to invade our Parliament, as was the Capitol by insurrectionists on 6 January 2021, and to place bombs under the seats of certain United Workers Party MPs. When a suspicious character chose to beat his pan outside the private residence of the then prime minister, demanding he set a general elections date or else, we heard not a single discouraging word from Mr. Pierre. When thousands of worked-up SLP followers defied COVID protocols to stage protest demonstrations, all we heard were shameless endorsements by leaders of the party.

Subsequent to his victory at the polls, the prime minister’s first public pronouncement was that he had expunged the records of individuals charged with violating the protocols. When a short time before the 2021 general elections a furious SLP candidate stormed into a church, disrupting the service, the disrupter was treated as if he were Christ newly risen from the dead. Judging by subsequent reports, he was in such state of mind that he had to be restrained and relieved of his firearm by concerned party colleagues. All of that, by his own admission, because he’d been told upsetting stories about another MP in relation to his recently deceased son. Philip Pierre and his colleagues had no critical word for those involved in the not so “small infraction” that carries a hefty fine or a prison sentence.

 In more recent times the notoriously fragile Speaker of the House, while typically fulminating on TV about nothing, threatened critics of the Saint Lucia Labour Party:  “No more Mr. Nice Guy. The gloves are off,” he unforgettably said. He would “fight fire with fire.” Whether his perceived tormentors were “dwarfs or giants,” they would have to say hello to his little friend. (It seems Mr. Speaker is a closet fan of Scarface, the only difference being his own weapon of choice that he fondly referred to as “my bazooka!”)     

All of the above received the tacit endorsement of the prime minister who had, only a short time earlier, admonished protectors of last July’s victory for being “too docile” in the face of criticism. “Tell them they lose!” ordered the self-styled 5-star general. “Let them know they lose.” 

Can the on-going crime pandemic be reasonably attributed to the above “seemingly small infractions” that in some quarters were celebrated? Did they snowball into the random homicides, the drive-by shootings, rapes, daylight robberies and burglaries? Minutes after the prime minister unloaded his November 7 speech, skulking individuals in Vieux Fort fired off their ominous response—with thunderous automatic weapons!  

The chickens have come home to roost, Mr. Prime Minister, along with their vulture relatives. And for that you and your victory-at-all-cost colleagues must take some of the responsibility. Even if you should make publicized weekly deliveries of new vehicles to our woefully demoralized police, few of us will feel safe in our homes. Not until the emboldened perpetrators of murderous crime are arrested and, importantly, swiftly brought to justice—not freed on unsupervised bail to commit more atrocities. (Speaking of which, whatever happened to the police charges against the President of the Senate? Has his case been heard? Or has it been placed on the ever-growing list of convenient adjournments!)

When it comes to fighting crime, some governments have earned the kind of reputation associated with professional wrestling. It is no secret that many of the vehicles handed over the years to the police were donated by venal party funders in exchange for endless concessions and other scraps of favor. 

As I mentioned in an earlier article, local criminals have been emboldened by the public behavior of our parliamentarians and their close friends. Crime will continue to proliferate until right-thinking citizens have good reason to trust key government and police personnel. Our lawmakers must be seen to be men and women of exemplary behavior and reputation, honorable ladies and gentlemen unlikely to commit infractions of the law, however small.

It would be a lot more reassuring if, instead of pretending to be a 5-star ole mas general, Mr. Pierre should be seen doing the job for which he and his team were elected. It is high time he and his troops started protecting the general populace with the same tunnel-visioned devotion demonstrated by those who live only to “protect the victory.”

As I write, it is being reported that another young man has been fatally gunned down—the 70^th homicide recorded this year!  

(For the especially curious: Pardie Poopeur is not my real name. I wear it for the same reason others wear bullet-proof vests!)