by: Dr. Richard A. Byron-Cox 29.Jan.10

As this year progresses, I expect the political heat to consistently rise, reaching boiling lava temperature by the time Ralph exercises his bell-ringing rights. Interpreting his November 25 steamrolling of Ralph as power signed and sealed, Arnhim presently wears an Ernie-of Sesame Street fame- grin. Like Pavlov’s dog, he salivates in anticipation of a not too distant delivery, as that bell privilege might well prove to be Ralph’s constitutional Dorian Gray dagger.{{more}} But Ralph is a fighter, if nothing else, and even with this most devastating setback, he refutes any suggestion that he is down much more out. So Arnhim will do well to remember: “He who laughs last laughs best.” Question is: Will Ralph have the last laugh?

Since that humiliating rejection, Ralph and crew seem “basody.” Now should be his moment of rest between rounds, where he sits down, blows off a little, and listens to the counsel of his corner. (Not that his corner is of much help being little more than a nest- feathering cabal). He should now, inter alia, think before he talks. He needs to scrub his tongue of that lexicon that so alienates even some of a closest acolytes. But no, he continues “to pelt box and kick like he wild”, or is it bullets? Granted he has no violent bones, he shows that he is still and believes that “Guns is All”. So The News newspaper – part of the fourth estate – is deemed Judas, betraying saviour Ralph, and now finds itself under sustained heavy Gunfire. And despite some of its members giving full support to Ralph over the years, and warning him of the folly of his “Yes Campaign”, the PMC are simply “nonentities.” Further, all who voted no in the referendum are denounced as unpatriotic, backward Ralph haters.

I am yet to hear Ralph or any ULP member even consider the fact that there are many who voted no, convinced that the proposed constitution was merely the old disguised in a new print frock and perfumed by the Ralph’s guile and bombarding rhetoric, insisting that it’s excellent. He, backed by Jomo, inter alios, argued that replacing a rafter here, and stopping a leak there is equal to building the new house, the best we could hope for. So the people were wrong, stupid not to accept Ralph’s great gift to us, and too backward to appreciate that our Galileo Galilee revealed to us the outer limits of our constitutional universe. Now, it’s this kind of know-it-all arrogance that will stop his plans at the Ground Dove’s nest level, ensuring they remain lifeless skeletons to with the passage of time, end up ruins; the failure of a leader blinded by his own brilliance.

Imagine that the teachers who are always in Ralph’s corner – proving it again recently by accepting the less than 5% increase that they were expecting in 2010 – were told that their 1,300 or so votes is of no consequence. Yet Ralph is surprised that Elmore Edwards is hell bent on seeing his political demise. Indeed the word ‘labour’ and its defence used to feature prominently in Ralph’s early prime-ministerial bravado. Not anymore. 1,300 people voices are irrelevant when you are a prime-ministerial Gun strategically set atop the Complex, the masses at your feet and mercy.

One would have thought that after the trouncing of November 25, Ralph would take the high road through a path of humility. Alas, he continues to confuse being on his high horse (while pelting low blows of insult to those who dare point out that he is galloping to a doomsday tomorrow), with taking the high road. The universal consensus is that the referendum had little to do with the constitution and was primarily a rebuke of Ralph. He needs to stop and reflect, listen or else….

It is said that he who learns not from his mistakes is destined to repeat them and with graver consequences. Ralph is in the enviable position of having a 34 million dollar warning sign courtesy our treasury. It is most mind boggling that a reasonable people would dismiss a government that is delivering on its promises from an international airport and low-income housing, to education and the most progressive and sensible foreign policy ever. Yet Ralph can and probably will lose the next general election, due in large part to an infantile Mr. Know-it-all conduct from such a bright man. Sometimes, though, there is nothing that blinds like brightness. And there is no disputing Ralph that he is our brightest man.

So it is quite possible that his great hopes for SVG would not go beyond the skeletal Ground Dove’s nest, all because in place of listening, he puffs up his chest boasting “Ah know, Ah know.” But “wisdom also comes from hearing…” and those “who can’t hear does…” Still, it would indeed be a grave injustice to SVG, history and to himself if he sacrifices SVG’s development on the altar of his foolish intellectual arrogance.

The Opposition may once again form government by default in the same way it did in 1984. Interestingly, the people had already raised a chequered flag through a massive “Kill the bills” march, giving the then Labour government notice. But the “strongest government in the world” ignored the people, resulting in its spectacular crash. Here again Labour is being warned, and like Cato in the 80s, Ralph has hinted that he intends to “spring one” on the Opposition exploiting his bell-ringing rights and privileges. He could “dilly dally” with that, but only for a time. Once the bell is rung, not he, but the people shall decide, for whom it tolls.