A victor, a vanquished, but country loses

So much has been (and is being) said/written about the shameful desecration of the funeral service of the late E G Lynch on partisan political grounds, including sad justifications from one side or the other, even many of us as social/political commentators, that I am not interested in that route. It matters not one iota, in the overall scheme of things, who was “right” or “wrong.”{{more}} What is of greater relevance and significance are the causes of such political dredging and how do we, as a people, go about rectifying the mess into which we have placed ourselves.

In the midst of the political maelstrom, it is so encouraging to see UWI students taking the initiative to revive public interest and discussions on the crucial issue of constitutional reform. Whether we realize it or not, that is the direction in which we must go, encompassing political culture and practice, if we are to find solutions. Most of the “bassa-bassa” of today’s politics is not so much concerned with the manifestations (the actions/statements of PM Gonsalves and his ULP, Opposition Leader Arnhim Eustace and his NDP), as their origins in the type of politics we practise and the constitutional and social boundaries in which we are confined.

The colonial masters left us a “winner take it all” system, which, unlike theirs, governed by centuries of traditions and Parliamentary practice, is clearly inappropriate for a society with limited population and human resources and burdened by the legacies of slavery and colonial rule. No matter how we preach, the reality is that both our political parties are hell-bent on winning the next elections. The bitter rancour of the late 90s has festered throughout the first decade of the 2000s until we have reached the stage where it seems impossible to pull back from going over the edge.

However disguised, each side will try to see how it can emerge from the desecration without political damage or, as in the case of the ULP, even how it can benefit from the “worst behaviour,” to quote Bishop Friday, of the NDP fanatics. The Opposition, having committed grave errors of judgement, morality and leadership, has no choice but to try and ride this one out by intensifying its “anti-corruption” campaign.

But those are not the only options open to us as a people. We need to dig beneath the festering sores, and here the emphasis is on all of us. Bishop Friday, while not going the full distance, is saying that someone has to “bell the cat,” take the initiative to return sanity. The political rivalry, over the last 16 years in particular, has taken on a personal intensity, fuelled by “bear-baiting.” It is as if everything depends on the outcome of the next elections; hence no holds are barred.

This is where the constitutional issues become relevant, especially in relation to our political system. At the recent constitutional discussions, sponsored by VINSA, the Vincentian UWI students’ body, the lecturer, Dr Christopher Bulkhan, refused to characterize the 2003 – 2009 constitutional reform process in SVG as “a lost opportunity” and advised that the dialogue should be continued.

Significantly, while pointing to the limitations of the constitutional framework, within which so much of our politics is grounded, he did say, reportedly, that there were some “excellent proposals” in the 2009 draft, rejected in the referendum. According to the SEARCHLIGHT (July 24/2014), “Bulkhan questioned whether those proposals were thoroughly developed,” and, “did they go far enough?”

Those are very profound observations which must be continued to be addressed and I would encourage VINSA and other similar organisations, particularly of young people, to pursue them. Your predecessors, my generation, and previous and immediately succeeding ones, seem intent on entrapping our young people with the burdens of the past, in evading fundamental issues in favour of this Ralph/Arnhim, ULP/NDP battle. That is where the degeneration intensifies, dragging us further and further into the muck.

I pray that at least some of our young people can escape the trap, can break the old moulds, can pursue paths where the interests of country and the rocky future facing generations are more important than much of the crap we write and talk about today. Our system is designed to produce a victor and a vanquished; but at what cost to the country? At the rate we are going we will all lose. Unless we “emancipate ourselves from partisan political slavery.”

More on this later.

renwickrose0@gmail.com