[dropcap]I[/dropcap] feel both blessed and happy to have been able to attend the recent classic Greek wedding ceremony of my nephew Howard and his beautiful bride Sophia, in Corfu, Greece. I feel equally fortunate that I was able to stop over for a couple days in Athens—a city I’ve longed to visit—to see and feel firsthand the place and people that gave democracy to the western world, beginning with the Greek City States. I hope to include some aspects of my visit to Greece in the autobiography that Rick Wayne and a few other friends have been encouraging me to write. They insist that “Shattered Dreams”, my first book, was a mere précis in my political journey.
Before leaving Saint Lucia for this amazing event in Corfu, I closely followed the story surrounding the death in the USA of the young Saint Lucian Botham Jean. Although America has always been a country that Saint Lucians love and respect, I think the demise of Botham Jean, and what led to it, has left a sour taste in their mouths, as well as in the mouths of many in our region.
I could not help noticing that the forced political division which the opposition St. Lucia Labour Party has been busy fomenting since its rejection at the polls in June 2016 was about to hit a new low. I was informed that they had planned another protest march in Castries, when Botham’s sudden and violent death occurred. The murder shocked the entire island into a state of disbelief and anger, and it should have been a rallying call for all Saint Lucians to put their differences aside and focus on what would happen in Saint Lucia if a Trump-like unhappy opposition politician that hates to lose was allowed to create more division in the country. Who will stop local politics shooting its opponents dead?
One possible solution which hit me came when I saw Prime Minister Allen Chastanet trying to comfort Botham Jean’s family. The prime minister had been off-island, and my information is that he was due to return home when Botham’s unfortunate death took place. The PM immediately adjusted his travel plans, knowing how well and professionally Botham’s mother and uncle Ignatius Jean had served Saint Lucia in the public service and in politics, respectively.
Since I have the enviable reputation of never mincing my words, I will repeat here what I once said to Ignatius Jean, which I hope he does not mind me citing here: “The only time I will ever consider voting for the SLP ever again, is if Ignatius Jean were to emerge as its political leader.” Yes, I said that! This takes me to the broader political point that I wish to make here. Prime Minister Allen Chastanet, to his credit, and to my great pleasure, has offered me two job opportunities, which I feel certain 99.99% of his opponents, as well as his supporters, would readily grab with both hands. I didn’t just say sorry to him. I informed him and his closest colleagues that he needs me in Saint Lucia, on radio and television at least three or four times a week, more than he needs me elsewhere.
Here is a glimpse of agenda item number one, as far as I am concerned. I aim to mobilize the entire country to force (or to persuade, if you prefer) the citizenry to get their MPs to pass a law in the House and Senate that would make it illegal, and incur disqualification, for any member of parliament to threaten potential investors to the island. Words such as “I will write to foreign investors asking them not to invest in Saint Lucia,” should disqualify any politician from ever contesting general elections or any elections for a public post in Saint Lucia.
The British have a habit of frowning on post-dated legislation. Perhaps we should do some research and see whether any former British colony has successfully post-dated legislation with no time limit in which to prosecute and punish those who betray their country and wish to harm its economy. Calling a strike and blocking roads so bananas and tourists cannot pass should fall under such a law.
Furthermore, it’s time for the Allen Chastanet-led UWP to establish in clear and simple terms investigations into the Grynberg affair, the launching of the CIP in Monaco, the reason the DSH was kept a secret until after the 2016 elections, and, crucially, the massive cost over-runs in the rebuilding of the St. Jude Hospital in Vieux Fort.
The prime minister must also be informed that it does not matter how much he rebuilds the economy, if the SLP were to be returned to office any time soon, they would mismanag the economy worse than they did before and Saint Lucia would be returned to the same depressing begging status he found it in, in 2016. That is the reality the UWP government must never stop drumming into the heads of those who pretend not to hear.
The UWP must get some strong gonads and push its MPs to keep reminding the official opposition and its puppets in all walks of Saint Lucian life that the people of this nation voted the UWP into office for five years; also that the PM has consistently said it would take three years just to clean up the mess he inherited.
