A Tale of two “Saints”- Vincent and Lucy
SOME THINGS re-happening in the world of today, so remarkably dangerous and discriminating that I would dearly like to make a comment or two, but I am reminded that “parson say christen your own picknee fus”, so this week it must be our elections and the follow-up one in St Lucia that occupy this space.
I begin with heartiest congratulations to Prime Minister Dr. Godwin Friday and his NDP team for overcoming the burden of five successive electoral defeats by scoring a comprehensive sweep in last week Thursday’s general elections, winning by 14 seats to one. Only former PM Dr. Ralph Gonsalves survived to become the Leader of the Opposition in the new Parliament. Not in our wildest imagination, and I daresay his as well, could such a result have been foreseen, a possible NDP victory in a tight contest possibly, but not a virtual clean sweep. Only the 1989 elections surpassed the scale of 2025, and that result, it may be useful to remember, was the same NDP, under the leadership of Sir James Mitchell, wiping the slate clean of the then Labour Party. That result forced the demoralised labour to seek political allies, ending up in bed with Dr Gonalves’ Movement for National Unity to form what is today the opposition ULP.
That is the new reality in our political equation.
The people have spoken and despite the rumours of bribery on a large scale, not substantiated so far, we must all respect the results and give Dr Friday and his team not only our plaudits, but our best wishes for their efforts.
Theirs is no mean task, especially given the inexperience of the team and the lofty expectations of those who voted for them.
They must be given the chance to do the job that the electorate gave them- improve the lives of Vincentians.
At the same time those rabid NDP supporters who go about threatening recriminations, and possibly even new MPs who think that way, will in time find out that such an approach will do neither the new government nor our people any good. It is true that there are many persons, myself included, who wish to have greater clarity as to the philosophy and programme content of the new government, but the reality is that our people have made their choice and that choice must be respected.
At the same time, we must not let the results obliterate the record of immediate past Prime Minister Gonsalves, both in relation to his contribution to our political, economic and social development, as well as his sterling role as a standard bearer for Caribbean nationalism and unity. I will deal with this later, but it is sad that we seem to be adopting attitudes of disrespect for former leaders when they lose office. That is not to the credit of our country and people.
Differing Fortunes For Neighbouring Parties Speaking of Dr. Gonsalves brings us to a sister island right next to us. Just fours days after SVG, the voters of St Lucia went to the polls as well. St Lucia, like our country, has been a target of nefarious external forces, seeking to weaken regional cooperation and the role of the sister countries and their governing parties in resisting external pressure.
The leader of St Lucia’s Labour Party, has a profile very different from that of Dr Gonsalves. But his quiet and humble exterior hides his steely determination to keep his country and its fortunes in the hands of his people.
Just as those forces were celebrating the victory over Dr. Gonsalves and the ULP and licking their chops in anticipation of another victory in St Lucia, Hon.
Phillip J. Pierre, led his Labour Party to an emphatic rout of his opponents. As if to compensate for the 14-1 result in SVG, Pierre all but obliterated the right-wing United Workers Party 16-1, with businessman Allan Chastanet, the lone opposition figure elected.
The stakes were high in the St Lucian elections, as indeed they were here, and I look forward to commenting on them in a subsequent column. Outside intervention exercised through the cooperation of regional right-wing parties which have gone so far as to welcome foreign boots on Caribbean soil and in our idyllic waters using false pretences, are a clear danger to all that is progressive in the region. Even as we congratulate our own NDP on its hard-won victory, it is also the duty of all patriots, even old veterans like me, to warn them of the lurking dangers of imperialist penetration further in the region.
So, though on different sides of the divide, just as we congratulate Dr. Friday and the NDP here, we must offer our heartiest congratulations to Phillip Pierre and the SLP in St Lucia.
We also urge colleagues in the new NDP administration to extend a hand of cooperation to our St Lucian brothers and sisters, to strengthen the OECS as the core of regional unity and to reject those who pretend to be on our side while seeking to draw us into the net being extended by foreign forces to keep us in bondage.
We may differ internally, and even from country to country, but never must we allow foreign forces to divide us.
_ Renwick Rose is a Social and Political commentator.
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