Hard Talk

I did not listen to Chester Connell when he spoke on BOOMFM on Tuesday, August 27 about the state of SVG, but read excerpts from the St. Vincent Times which captioned it as “SVG at Critical Juncture: Connell Warns of Deepening Dysfunction.” His is a welcome piece of Hard Talk.

It compliments and adds to the many pieces written weekly by Jomo Thomas as he dissects the state of this blessed land of ours. We are at a critical stage in our country’s history and development and are about to move into our 45th year of Independence, being also on the eve of another set of elections which will decide if we re-elect a party and leader that have held the reins of government for five consecutive terms from 2001- 2024, or decide to make a change. We have had nine elections since 1979. The Opposition NDP party governed for four of those nine terms. One of the expectations of being a democratic society is the ability to change governments at frequent intervals. Four consecutive terms is bad enough, but the possibility of allowing a party to govern for six consecutive terms is a horse of a different colour. Persons who shout for a sixth consecutive term of office should reflect some more on this and realise that it is not in the best interest of the country, for one of the problems when a party controls government for a long period of time is that the leadership or is it really the leader, gets to believe that he/she owns the country and acts that way.

It is one thing if the country is showing positive signs of development, and the people are relatively satisfied, but when one examines the state of our country there is much that is left to be desired. And a growing number of people are dissatisfied. Now is time for a serious assessment of what has been happening with the governance of this country. Connell has firm views on this. I quote here from St. Vincent Times. SVG “is not a prosperous nation; It is not successful, and it is in fact broken and broke.” He says too, “Our institutions in SVG are now in their imploding dysfunction, inimical to our daily development and antithetical to the eternal evolution of our progressing emancipation. In other words, everything that matters – every institution that matters in SVG – is in dysfunction and we are regressing. We are going backwards …“.

Jomo has commented on the controversial visit to SVG by Vybz Kartel who was feted by the Prime Minister, on poverty and the worsening unemployment rate, a growing drug addiction, and official corruption. He is of the view that a stifling governing elite (that) sits on the country like a heavy load, unprecedented crime and violence, a stagnated economy, lack of political hygiene, disorder in all levels of government, particularly the police and civil service, lack of accountability, good governance best practices and a narrowing of the democratic space. Some of these comments are from his piece on 26th September, 2024.

As the election continues to heat up, the comments by the two persons I have singled out are worthy of a deeper conversation. I heard although I am unable to verify it, that Bing Joseph owner of BOOMFM on which station Connells’ comments were made, had been subjected to threats. I hope this is not so, for it signals that we are heading for deep trouble. Jamaica always stands out as an example where criminal acts had moved into the political arena with disastrous consequences for the country.

One of the issues that comes into play when a government in a democratic country stays in office for a long time, is that of corruption. I could not forget when, during my first year in Canada, I was given an envelope by a Guyanese post-graduate student who was trying to encourage me to vote. I declined immediately and had a few words to say to him. This is obviously an extreme case, but we always have to monitor such matters. In the case of SVG, electoral observers over the years have been making certain recommendations to strengthen the system. We have not been paying much attention to these. Let me mention a few of them. 1: The creation of an independent electoral management body. 2: Making the recruitment of returning and presiding officers more transparent. 3: The removal of the 15-day registration period. 4: Re-registration implemented every 10-15 years to ensure a voters’ list that represents the prevailing voter population.

The question we have to ask ourselves is- Are we interested in country or party? And why? Now really is the period for hard talk, where we look at our country and try to see where it is heading. I was listening to a radio interview this morning, (Wednesday), with Dr Kishore Shallow, the NDP candidate for North Leeward and he states that he had been told by more than one person, one of them I think, he said was not even a Vincentian, who made the point that SVG was about 30 years behind our neighbours, referring to Saint Lucia and Grenada. I have heard many persons comment on how far we are behind our neighbours. Of course, thirty years is obviously an exaggeration. But I raise this here to remind us that we must pay more attention to what is happening with our neighbours and make the comparisons. But our conversation on the state of this our blessed land should continue. We need moreover to listen to the groundings of our people. There is a lot of dissatisfaction there!

• Dr Adrian Fraser is a social commentator and historian