WILL A NEW BREED OF SAINT LUCIANS TOLERATE A HOUSE BARBECUE?

In 1995 Pat Brown, arguably Saint Lucia’s most respected structural engineer and a cherished contributor to the STAR newspaper, wrote the following: In 1972 the day’s prime minister was obsessed with the idea of making Rodney Bay a no-go zone for mosquitoes. Moses Matalon [a Jamaican famous for having conceptualized the reclamation of land in the foreshore area of Kingston, as well as ‘a visionary in finding solutions to the housing and construction industry’] was originally brought in to open a channel emanating from the sea to the swamp. His contract was extended to bridge Pigeon Island with a causeway. The result was a severe ecological disaster that cost Saint Lucia several beaches and the disappearance of our beloved jack fish. Matalon subsequently introduced asphalt roads from Cap Estate to Castries. Within months, no less than seven motorists lost their lives speeding on the poorly designed road.

There was no super-elevation, no tangential curves. Show-off motorists soon discovered they could not negotiate the curves at speed and paid with their lives. Traffic lanes were limited to 22 feet instead of the mandated 24. The road was constructed without shoulders. Subsequent application of a sheet asphalt surface raised the road pavement to close to eight inches above the earth shoulders, causing more road accidents, some fatal. Today, 22-feet lanes no longer satisfy the flow of traffic and so far has cost taxpayers $3 million to construct road shoulders and widen traffic lanes from Cap to the La Clery church, a bit over 7 miles. To undertake a similar operation on the five-and-a-half miles from Choc to Cap will cost one million dollars, several times the original cost of the road 22 years ago.

The STAR’s speculation that the government may announce a snap election seems to have taken many by surprise. While it is true our delicate political environment has been maintained by the reluctance (inability?) of the elected opposition to take advantage of volatile issues occurring at an ever-increasing rate, it is difficult to accept that an election machine encumbered by mental fatigue, that has nevertheless been able to cogwheel some Saint Lucians into electing the ruling party six consecutive times with stunning efficiency, will continue to do so indefinitely. For how much longer can voters fall for cheap rum, stale rotis and fried chicken? How many more times will the drunk and disorderly, hypnotized by such as Shabba Ranks and other imports, allow themselves to be transported to polling stations to vote for candidates they know not, let alone what they are capable of. One would hope that a new generation will soon reject transparent election gimmicks and demand from our political parties election candidates at least able to think and read!

Dare we hope to see any time soon, election candidates more interested in easing the plight of the people than in landing ministerial portfolios about which they know nothing? Dare we hope the university-educated offspring of barely literate but successful banana farmers will be less tolerant of the insults their parents suffered in their best interests at the hands of venal, aloof and pompous politicians? Will we continue to accommodate political piracy, with once formidable opposition forces kissing for personal gain the feet of those they once described as the devil incarnate?

Will we continue to tolerate government and statutory bodies that appear above the law? Government ministers who with impunity dismissively react to important press questions? The most disturbing allegations go uninvestigated. Ministers openly engage in private-sector businesses, making life more difficult for regular local entrepreneurs. The media, with the exception of those blatantly over-supportive of the government, exists under siege. Some outlets have been forced to shut down. A dictatorship looms.

In the meantime, we look on helplessly, passive spectators to a national calamity. But there is hope. And it resides in the new generation. I cannot permit myself to believe educated, young and healthy Saint Lucian men and women will settle for what their predecessors have for years suffered in silence for fear of victimization. I believe strongly a change is coming.

Editor’s Note: A year after the preceding article appeared in the STAR, a thirtyish Kenny Anthony returned home to take over the St. Lucia Labour Party, Julian Hunte having resigned in a huff as leader a short time earlier. For several years Anthony had been away from the local political scene while he studied at the University of the West Indies, and the University of Birmingham. Not long after graduation, regional governments fell over each other in the race to profit from his widely acclaimed acuity. George Odlum, himself a renowned product of higher education in England, declared him “lead among our best brains.” On 23 May 1997, it was Saint Lucia’s turn to reclaim its prized product. They handed Kenny Anthony an unprecedented election victory: 16 of the 17 seats in parliament. Finally, a bright, charismatic, articulate and photogenic youthful native son had been placed at the helm of the nation’s Ship of State. Pat Brown’s dream come true. At this point, I am reminded of the following from Aesop’s Fables: “Be careful what you wish for, lest it come true.” I’m also wondering what Pat Brown might’ve written about life today on this Rock of Sages.