Wheel and Come Again

Mr. Undertaker, build them a coffin.” This tune by Ricky T should be atop the Prime Minister’s Playlist, given the record number of murders that have taken place under his watch. However, given his handling of the crime situation in this country, he should first wheel and come again. Previously, I promised to assess his performance against the three issues or metrics that were most crucial to his 2016 electoral victory. In this installment, I present his audited account on crime.

Between June 6, 2016 and May 1, 2021 there have been approximately 238 murders in Saint Lucia, representing the most in any five-year span since the post emancipation period. I am not suggesting that the Prime Minister is personally responsible for all or any of those deaths. However, the Prime Minister personalized the solution to the problem by suggesting that “Kenny Anthony can’t, but I will.” He held that Kenny Anthony was personally responsible for the solution to the problem, and that somehow he failed in the discharge of that duty.

So, how has Allen Chastanet discharged his duty with regard to controlling crime? We don’t need a forensic audit to determine the answer. The evidence clearly demonstrates that he has been an unmitigated failure. The first ten days of 2017 were quite eventful in Saint Lucia, and not in a positive way. Gun shots rang in the New Year, resulting in a murder. There would be more fireworks throughout that opening week, not all of it gun-related. On January 5, 2017, news of a government minister soliciting sex from an 18-year-old, an intern at his in his office, hit the news and social media. Embarrassing pictures of the nude minister nude in his office evidently pleasuring himself were in circulation, along with text messages between the minister and the student, discussing cash for sex. At the time, the Prime Minister was out of out the state. On that date, there were already as many murders as days in the year.

By January 10, 2017, the date the PM addressed those two issues, there were already eight murders for the year. On that date, the PM revealed he had neither the moral capacity nor the policy ideas to address the crime problem in the country. He did not explicitly admit to his incapacity, but he might as well have, and put an end to the charade. In his attempt to address the two issues, the PM tried playing smart but was not clever at all. To sidestep the issue of ministerial impropriety and his inaction, he tried to assert the sub judice principle, though no case had yet been filed. The irony of his assertion, which was obviously lost on himself, was evident when he proclaimed that the reason for the spate of gun violence and murder was the breakdown of morality in the society.

Whatever he thought of the Minister’s legal pickle, its moral dimensions were evidently absent in his thought process. The PM apparently did not see any immorality in the behavior of a Minister, who instead of using the power of his offices to expand opportunities for the development of youth, would seek instead to use it for sexual gratification and preying on young vulnerable females. By the end of 2017, Saint Lucia would have recorded the highest number of murders in a single year: 60. There was little abatement in 2018, with 45 murders being recorded. The Minister of National Security would organize a national symposium on crime, and the Prime Minister did not even bother to show up. Subsequent discussions on crime would hear the PM offer the pabulum that he conceived his Cluster Cabinet as a crime fighting strategy. The cluster proved ineffective, and was quietly blown away, as Ministers were given new warrants and their own ministries.

Not properly understanding the society or the dimensions of crime, he thought he would latch on to low hanging fruit or defenseless persons on which to blame the crime situation. He targeted young single mothers. He did not see vulnerability as the cause of their status; he instead appeared to blame them for the societal problem of crime. When his handlers attempted to walk back his statement, he doubled down, even promoting a form of eugenics to deal with the problem of single parenting. He proposed sterilization of teenagers who got pregnant more than once. He gave no consideration to, or at least did not address the action of males, or even suggest support, care and counselling to those young mothers.

Given his vendetta against the National Trust and some of its employees and affiliates, he would breach an agreement he had with them, regarding the Royal Gaol. In his rashness, he would demolish “Custody Suites” and not have alternative holding cells for prisoners. As a direct consequence, due to the inadequacy of their holding area, someone arrested and charged for murder would escape police custody in Babonneau, and is yet to be recaptured.

The ostensible haste for demolishing the old gallows was to construct a new Halls of Justice and Police Headquarters. In the year since the demolition, the site has turned to a parking lot. In this year’s Estimates, the sum of $100,000 was approved for the conduct of the geo-technical analysis with regard to construction of the Police Headquarters and Criminal Court. Notwithstanding all the showcased renderings, this is the only line item in the budget addressing construction of those buildings. Is that an indication of the priority level assigned to this activity?

During his period in opposition, the PM would lament what he believed was low level of police morale. He would blame IMPACS for that low morale. He promised: “Within 100 days of assuming office, appoint a high level tribunal consisting of former members of the judiciary to review the background to, and take follow-up action on, the IMPACS Report with a view to recommending appropriate means of resolving the situation within the parameters of the laws of Saint Lucia.”

It’s now nearly 1800 days since he is Prime Minister, and as yet there is not a word, not a word, not a word of such a tribunal, far less any recommended action. His inability to confront the fallout from IMPACS is similar to his effeteness on handling crime. On that basis, the electors should, in reference to him, say: “Wheel and come again. Wham to him?”

This article first appeared in the May 2021 edition of the STAR Monthly Review. Be sure to get your printed copy on newsstands or view it here: https://issuu.com/starbusinessweek/docs/star_monthly_review_-_may_31_2021