An open response to Elvis Daniel

Editor: Mr. Daniel, I had to respond to your letter published in the last edition of the Searchlight Newspaper.

Please, you and your party, let go of the sad excuse that you lost the North Windward Seat because of bribery. The seat of North Windward was never reserved for you in the first place. If you have been telling yourself that since the election night, then it seems to have become truth to you.{{more}}

I particularly want to highlight the Sandy Bay polls in the elections. Mr. Daniel, you and most people know that you could have never won any of the polls in Sandy Bay, whether or not there was bribery.

Most of people of Sandy Bay do not know you, and if some do, it is either because they are affiliated with the same party or they belong to the same church as you. How often did you take it upon yourself to visit and socialize with the people of Sandy Bay, pre-election and during the election campaign, in settings which did not include your supporters and fellow brothers in Christ? If you were determined to win that seat, your work should have started after the 2005 election when you first lost.

At what time after the passing of hurricane Tomas did you come to Sandy Bay to see the people and the effects of the hurricane (I can give you the benefit of the doubt that you may have been pre-occupied with assisting your own community members)? I acknowledge that your party leader came to Sandy Bay one week later after the hurricane. Since he may have felt that effects of Tomas were vastly exaggerated, had things been worse (thank God they were not) he might have met residents already dead and buried.

You may have been fooled by the remarks of Monty Roberts at the rally that your party held at Sandy Bay during the election campaign. He referred to a certain man who was a strong and vibrant ULP supporter (during the years he contested that seat against Montgomery Daniel) whom he said gave him more trouble that Daniel himself. That man is now an NDP supporter for whatever personal reasons. However, if you had done your homework, you would have realised that this man, who once was a prominent figure in the community, who had rallied the people of Sandy Bay around Montgomery, lost his popularity among the people and is no longer an influential individual in politics. So if you thought that since this man changed the cards in his hands, he was bringing the whole table with him, you made a grave mistake.

Another thing is that your supporters were never humble. They made all kind of threats during the election campaign to the ULP supporters, mostly about their work. I guess they were reacting to Burton Williams’ “Pastor say christen your pickney fus”, and the defeat at the polls spoke loudly that the majority of the people were not going to stick for their nonsense. I am not saying that the ULP supporters behaved like saints, but the way your supporters carried on spoke volumes for what kind of government we would have had to live under (and the government is the people, right?).

Now this talk about lumber, cement and galvanize. For an average person who has just endured the passage of a hurricane, with a damaged house roof, or a damaged house, Christmas is just around the corner. The governing party brings in assistance, what are they to do, refuse the help? You call it bribery, we call it much needed assistance. Had these things been distributed without the passing of a hurricane, well, by all means call it what it is. On that note of bribery, what is this we are hearing about you almost draining your bank account despite warnings about not using your own personal funds, for only God knows what?

Another thing is that had you been on the ground when all the repairs were being done, you would have seen that even NDP supporters got their houses fixed before ULP supporters, and this, my friend, does not suggest any type of ‘selection’ process going on. You are right when you say that persons who may not have had damaged houses got supplies, but it cannot be bribery if they asked and it was given to them, as since when is ‘doing a favor’ bribery? A prudent person in their right mind would take the opportunity given to them straight away, instead of leaving it to chance, and persons were being prudent in ensuring that they received what they requested, just in case their party lost the election.

By the way, is it a crime to hug a supporter on Election Day? Your point on that only reflects the jealousy of child when seeing an opponent being friendly towards his (the child’s) own friends. Even on December 11th when persons were going from Sandy Bay to Argyle for the ULP’s last pre-election rally, you happened to be outside at the Pastoral Centre in Sandy Bay and amidst all the horn blowing, you could not even look up to face the number of persons travelling down to Argyle. All of this suggests that you had no overwhelming confidence of wining your seat in this election. It is also well noted by the people that your thank you was done in the newspaper, as opposed to the public thank you which you did on microphone just after the referendum last year. Is this the way you even thank your own supporters? How many of them do you think will even see this ad?

Last, but by no means least, you talk of hypocrisy. It is my deepest conviction that a man of God should never get involved in partisan politics; it clearly constitutes a conflict of interest. 30.DEC.10

How did you expect to do God’s work purposefully and truthfully if your attention became divided? The Bible speaks about being in the world but not of this world (John 17: 4-16, Romans 12:2). Reflect on this. Your first loss in the 2005 elections should have been an indicator to put aside partisan politics and get back into God’s work. After all, whom are you giving tribute to? Your party or to God (Luke 20:25). I am not here to judge, since that is left up to the Master above. But a word of advice. Do not get distracted by the things of this world, Satan is our greatest enemy and he will create fantasies for us, so appealing that they seem right in our minds. Now that the elections are over, it is time to let go and move on, be a servant to the people in God’s ministry (2 Corinth 6:4). There is always a reason for everything in our lives, and as servant of the Lord, once you humble yourself before him he will lift you up (James 4:10).

A Sandy Bay Voter