By G.A. Dwyer Astaphan
Someone called me last Thursday and told me to tune in to ZIZ.
When I did, I heard Denzil Douglas speaking in Parliament, trying to lay all of the blame for the Colonial Life Insurance company(CLICO) and the British American Insurance Company (BAICO) fiascos on the companies themselves.
Now, while it is true that the two companies have much to answer for, is it not the Government that has the ultimate responsibility to protect citizens?
And as Prime Minister for the last 16 years, and Minister of Finance for nearly all of that time, it was Denzil’s responsibility to save the people of this country from losing $110 million in annuities with BAICO.
But he did nothing.
Well, let me correct that. He did something: to add insult to injury, he allowed Social Security to invest $19 million of your money in CLICO!
Yet there he was last Thursday in Parliament beating his chest and saying that he would not allow this matter to be swept under the carpet and that something has to be done.
Now that the horse has long bolted! Child, please!
Yes, Labour Day is soon upon us and he wants to start rousing up the poor people to march with him. So the rhetoric has begun. But, really! Denzil has no credibility.
And it is not to say that he had not been warned.
I brought this matter to the attention of the Cabinet about ten years ago, and his Ministry laughed me out of town. In addition, the International Monetary Fund (IMF) kept calling on him to regulate the non-bank financial sector. And he laughed them out of town too.
Then he said in Parliament last Thursday that the insurance companies had been resisting, but that he would not allow that any more
First of all, which insurance companies were resisting? Let him say.
And why would he yield to them in a matter that could, and eventually did, cause such catastrophic financial loss to the people of this country?
Was his loyalty to his friends in the insurance industry more important to him than his sacred duty to protect the people of this country? I think so.
Further, he claims to be an intelligent and informed man and leader. Accordingly, he ought to have known that even a quick glimpse of CLICO’s financial reports for 2007 would have thrown up some serious red flags.
And that should have forced him and his financial and legal advisers into action to prevent the people of St.Kitts & Nevis from losing the $110 million.
But Denzil’s nose was pointing in the wrong direction, as has often been the case with his leadership.
So all of that talk in Parliament about the nurses and teachers whom he knows losing their life savings and so on, was like the stuff that comes out of the southern end of a northern-bound horse. If he had cared that much for those nurses, teachers, hotel workers, bus and taxi drivers, messengers, domestic workers and others, they would have had their money today.
And, true to form, his remarks were attended by the usual drama and the feigned indignation for which he has become notorious.
Denzil is an actor. And his worst line of the day was: “A lot of poor people are out there suffering. And I am their voice in here!”
In one fell swoop, he sought to relegate every other person in Parliament, whether elected or nominated, and regardless of which political party they represent, to being insignificant bit players and nobodies.
Of all of them in there, only Denzil Douglas is the voice of the poor, suffering people. Can you imagine that?
Can one man be so delusional?
Does he not know how much suffering he has brought upon so many people in this country?
Has he asked the Port workers, the 55-year-olds, the YES workers, and the hundreds of other people who have been sent home if they see him as their voice?
Has he asked the civil servants who, without warning, were told that there would be a freeze on their increments, if he is their voice?
What about the poor people who, just a year ago, he had told that it was working, but who have since found themselves in deeper despair and poverty as a result of the sudden barrage of taxes, electricity and price increases, reduced work hours, layoffs and closures? Is he their voice in Parliament?
Is he the voice of the small (and medium and even some large) business people who are reporting income losses ranging between 15% and 50% and many hanging by a thread right now?
Is he the voice of the poor families who fear for their safety and the safety of their homes? Or who, although they have been told about building families and communities, are seeing whore houses popping up in their communities?
Is he the voice of the police, fire services, prison services, military and justice folks who desperately need better working conditions and arrangements?
I wonder if he is the voice of the people of Saddlers with whom, it is said, he has not had a single clinic since the last election?
Is he the voice of the many young men and women of St. Paul’s and Newton Ground who have been sent home and cannot find anything to do?
Is he the voice of the many young people in this country who still wait to be empowered educationally, economically and socially instead of being kept dependent on, and in subjugation to, him so that they would feel obligated to vote for him?
Does he know that he is talking nonsense, but continues doing so because he is confident that people will forever believe him, and believe in him?
Does he believe that he has taken away the people’s voice, and that he, and he alone, is now their voice? Is this how far the megalomania has reached?
And while he has taken away their voice, and he speaks for them, it seems that he, and only he, decides what must be said, what must be reported, what must be accounted for, and what must be swept under the carpet.
For example, Integrity in Public Life legislation is not a priority for him. Freedom of Information legislation is not a priority for him. For once and for all, ‘de-villainizing’ the electoral system is not a priority for him. And not even after the upcoming Nevis Island Elections will it be.
Sweep that stuff under the carpet.
Telling the taxpayers who were the negotiators for the Hydrofoil Debt Forgiveness matter and who received the US$4 million in payment is not a priority for him. Unfettered access by citizens to beaches at the Southeast Peninsula is not a priority for him.
Under the carpet!
Ensuring that the record of parliamentary proceedings is made available to the general public because that is what is required in a modern democracy, and also to give us the chance to point out to him the things that he has said but denies having said them, is not a priority for him.
Observing the standard of decorum required in Parliament is not a priority for him.
Admitting that he has been very much responsible for the fiscal mess that we are in, to the point that Government is delaying payment to vendors and juggling resources like never before, is not a priority for him.
Did he take the Accountant General with him to Taiwan recently? If so, why? And if you are in doubt, re-read the last above paragraph.
Maybe he does not know that the Taiwanese, like many others, are sick of his begging. And on top of that, they are still chafing over the Llewelleyn’s Haven-Ambassadorial Residence story.
Ensuring that contracts by Government and Government institutions are entered into on the basis of transparency and integrity is not a priority for him. That is why his dear friend can get an exclusive contract to market 191 houses for Beacon Heights/Social Security, using the money of the people of this country.
Sweep all of that stuff under the carpet too.
Telling the story about him and Lex Consulting has not been a priority for him.
Lex is small, but a lot of money has passed through it. Money to buy real estate for his sister, real estate for his child, money to a lingerie business in St. Paul’s, I hear.(U$200,000.00), money to him, and so on.
It has also done some business with a bank in Florida controlled by the Venezuelan Government.
The smallness of the operation, contrasted against the large sizes of some of these money movements, perhaps suggests the need for closer examination.
The principal of the company is an employee of the Government, Denzil is the leader of the Government, the said employee is his lady friend and mother of his children, and Lex is located at his family home in the Bronx.
Yet Denzil, without blinking, tells the media that he has no connection with Lex and that discussing Lex is not a priority for him.
Sweep that under the carpet.
I end with this.
I don’t like the idea of sweeping things under the carpet. But if it is to be done, I want you to know that it is you, not Denzil Douglas, who hold the broom in your hands, and it is you who must do the sweeping.
Within a week or so, I will invite you to join in some law-abiding civic action events being planned for April. I hope that you are ready to take a stand. I hope that you are ready to sweep Denzil .Not under the carpet, but out of the leadership of this country.
