By Mutryce A. Williams
We hear the cries, “People in St. Kitts and Nevis take their politics serious see!” When we hear this, we beam with a sense of pride, as we hope to be viewed as a country with a passionate and involved electorate concerned with preserving democracy. We eat, live, breathe, sleep and die THIS politics. We even identify ourselves by our party affiliations. Someone may say, “Girl Jane that is you there, I aint even take notice that is you!’ Jane may respond, “Oh yes is me Labour dog Jane or is me Pam cat Jane.” I have ceased being astonished when asked about my party affiliation by regional brothers and sisters upon introduction because of our political culture. As sugar is synonymous with the state of St. Kitts and Nevis, so is politics. At any given time in St. Kitts and Nevis, I mean at any give time, it does not have to be national election time, you may see a citizen casually sporting a T-shirt, hat, bag or some other political memorabilia, because politics is an EVERYDAY thing because “that is how we be! We can’t change”.
I have heard the exclamation, “It is just St. Kitts and Nevis and it is politics as usual!” I ask, “How can it be politics as usual when partisan politics supersedes nationality? How can it be politics as usual when partisan politics clouds our objectivity and rationality? How can it be politics as usual when we use political trickery to win votes and fool the electorate, when we have put national development and the welfare of our people on the back burner and use power to spew vengeance? How can it be politics as usual when this partisan politics tear families and neighbours apart? How can it be politics as usual when innocent people are drawn into the fracas? How can it be politics as usual when we have such deep rooted hatred and anger for each other? How can it be politics as usual when we use our votes to right ‘perceived’ wrongs? How can it be politics as usual when our allegiance to our party supersedes our allegiance to everything else? How can it be politics as usual when it has seeped its way into the church?” I have heard citizens exclaim, “Me, I can’t listen to he preach, he is a PAM or LABOUR minister, how you could sit down and listen to he?” or “Oh is he preaching this Sunday me a stop home!”
I have been in settings when others were given compliments for work or good deeds only to have a supporter of the opposing party in the midst retort, “How you could say that, you aint know who he or she be, that’s a big big LABOUR or PAM there?” I have seen expressions and opinions change immediately because it is felt that one’s political affiliation, more than anything else, defines who one is. I have heard parents/guardians boast that the first words from their offspring is the name of a political party, and I have heard people say that if you put a big stone it doesn’t matter who the other candidate is they will vote for the stone. I have seen people refuse to wear the colours of the other party, claiming that this is ingrained in their psyche that just the sight or accidental touch can cause itching. This goes for all of the parties. We are NRP, CCM, PAM, UNEP or LABOUR first, then after a citizen of the twin-island Federation of St. Kitts and Nevis because our political beliefs take precedence.
How can it be politics as usual when we think that attaining political office is an entitlement, an aspiration only for the Patricians and not the Plebs? How can it be politics as usual when some of us grow up thinking that because we were born with a platinum spoon in our mouths we should be running the country and not some “backward man from back a de land because he aint come from nowhere.”
If I had a penny for every time I have heard this expression I would be a rich woman.
How can it be politics as usual when party allegiance is inherited? I mean it really is inherited rather than a choice made by the individual. When I say this I am not referring to the old political allegiance excuses of, “Where you think I from?” or “My mother threaten to throw me out if I aint vote LABOUR or PAM” or “My whole family is LABOUR or PAM so who you expect me to vote for?” I am referring to the, “Well when that party was in power my family had to suck salt or bang water take it make run way, so I must put them back in to victimize me?” or “When that party was in power they aint build one house, pave one road or do a thing for where I live” and “If that party was in power you really think as qualified as I am I would have get a job or get to go college.” I have heard a friend say, “As educated and as objective as I want to be when I have to put me X my conscience could never let me vote for that party because I hear my uncle lament in anguish that he had given the St. Christopher and Nevis Police Force all his years and two days before he was supposed to have gotten his gratuity he was given his walking papers, because of his political allegiance, because of where he was from…this is the same uncle who used to help us out and put money on the table, because my mother couldn’t get a good job…again because of where she from. So how I could go give that party my X? What they could come in front of me and tell me?”
Now people I tell you with this perpetuating cycle it can never be politics as usual.
We claim that this strong political heritage sets us apart from most of our regional brothers and sisters. Surprisingly enough, it is something that we boast about. I have heard that this divisive political culture is healthy for our democracy, and when I hear this ignorance I can’t help but laugh and ask, “Who fool you?” Don’t you know that the international community views countries like this as politically unstable? Because with candidates seeking to cause a greater rift between the two ‘humours’ they resort to the most base form of accusations and character assassinations. There are allegations of electoral impropriety, allegations of out right theft and misappropriation of funds, allegations of bribery, drug running, causing the escalation in criminal activity and allegations of statutory rape. Again, how can it be politics as usual when these accusations are plastered over the Internet, spewed on the airwaves and written in the media? Who do you think it’s hurting? Do you think it is hurting the candidate, that political party, or does it hurt the country? How can it be politics as usual when as a small nation state we allow the world to view us in the light? When all of this is happening, I tell you, it can never be politics as usual.
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