The way I see it

By G.A. Dwyer Astaphan

Now that the Cabinet (and other) appointments have been made, some observations may be in order.

Dr. Douglas took back Finance from Dr. Timothy Harris who, it is widely felt, and under severe stress, had done a good job during his brief stewardship of that Ministry.

While the taking back may appear to some people as a slight against Dr. Harris, another view is that perhaps Dr. Harris himself is quietly happy with it, because if some anticipated fiscal measures actually materialize over the next 12-24 months, the Minister of Finance is likely to receive more than a little political heat.

And with his eyes possibly set on greater things in the not-too-distant future, Dr. Harris might prefer if Dr. Douglas were to receive that heat.

With regard to those “greater things”, there are some people (including, I am told, the man who refers to himself as “the bigger boss”) who have said that Dr. Harris is not ready to be Prime Minister, while others argue that he is at least as ready in 2010 as Dr. Douglas was in 1995, and that he would be more fiscally careful.

What Dr. Harris might have a hard time selling is his joy at being given Agriculture and Housing once again (he held it in his first term in office, 1995-2000), although I am sure that he will try his best.

Meanwhile, the bigger boss has again kept Lands for himself. It is said that he does not trust anybody else but himself with it.

Also, it will be interesting to see what Dr. Harris’ ‘Senior Minister’ designation and the ‘Constituency Empowerment’ portfolio are all about, and how they fit into the overall configuration and dynamics of the Cabinet.

On the face of it, the package of portfolios, together with the ‘Senior Minister’ designation, may to some people not appear to have been complimentary to Dr. Harris. But time will tell.
Now to Mr. Sam Condor.

It may appear to some people that he too has taken a hit.

When I learned that he now had National Security, I recalled a conversation that had taken place about one week before the 2004 elections, in which a then-close friend of  the bigger boss had told some folks that “de white man goin’ get National Security to deal with he criminal friend dem in Irish Town and Mc Knight. Leh he smoke dat in he pipe! And when we done wid him, dem same criminal dem goin’ turn ‘gainst him and nobody goin’ hah no use fuh him”.

So I couldn’t help but wonder what the motive was to give National Security to Mr. Condor.

Was it because he would be serving his last term (2010-2015) and so could be the  one to face the loss of political capital, rather than that happening to someone else who might be running again?

And would he have been given the portfolio more in name than in fact, and be relegated essentially to Junior Minister status while the bigger boss continued to call the shots?

Let’s face it, Mr. Condor’s peaceful and patient demeanour and his deep, passionate commitment to Labour have encouraged some persons to take him for granted.

One thing I know for sure about National Security. In order to function effectively in the circumstances which have prevailed in this country for the past 30 years, it requires energy, innovation, radical action, loads and loads of money, the political will, the full support of the Cabinet, and an integrated approach.

And what about Foreign Affairs? What has changed so that it is now okay for Mr. Condor to get it, whereas it was not so some years ago? For me, it was, and should have been, always okay for him to have it. This is an independent, sovereign nation, and although geopolitics cannot be totally disregarded, I could never support the move to take away that Ministry from Mr. Condor, just as I could never support the reasons given for not taking a stand when the US Government chose to be difficult in granting entry visas to both Mr. Condor and myself.

I, for one, respectfully challenged everybody (including US ambassadors and others) to show me a good reason why that was happening; and I told them that if they could, I would resign.

Nobody ever came up with a reason. And they could not make up a reason, plausible enough to fool anyone.

I later found out who the persons were in the orchestration of this dastardly action against myself. And I know that God doesn’t like ‘ugly’, so I leave them to Him.

Of course, it was said that some pressure in this regard had been applied to the bigger boss shortly after the elections of 1995, and that he threatened to pull our Ambassador to the US.

If that is so, then the same stance ought to have been taken in the cases of Mr. Condor and myself.

Were Mr. Condor and myself made scapegoats? I don’t know.

I leave that all to the Real Master to sort out. And in time all will be revealed. And it won’t be nice.

Meanwhile, I am presuming that the bigger boss will continue to be the de facto Minister of Foreign Affairs, and that he might use the permanent secretary as the de facto ‘Junior Minister’ of Foreign Affairs.

There might even be some room in that dynamic for Dr. Asim Martin, who is the dauphin of the bigger boss and who may well now operate as the de facto co-Deputy Prime Minister (despite his steady declines at the polls over the past two elections), together with one of the two unelecteds, given the inclination of the bigger boss to follow his own path rather than being guided by the electorate.

In fact, I am told that a delegation last week attended a conference in Mexico that had everything to do with Foreign Affairs, but minus the Minister of Foreign Affairs.

The same story applies to Social Security where the bigger boss has his surrogates well planted. So while Mr. Condor is the Minister, the real power will reside elsewhere.

You see, Finance, Lands, Social Security, and the National Bank occupy the four pillars of power in Government, and the bigger boss will not yield any serious level of leadership of, or in connection with, any of them to any other Minister.

The Ministry of Labour, like Social Security, also remains with Mr. Condor, but the overarching mindset, notwithstanding Mr. Condor’s unquestionable passion for the workers and the poor of this country, and his conscientious work on their behalf throughout his life, is not as enthusiastic as it could be in terms of the promotion of workers’ rights. So I would be happily surprised if there are any major moves with regard to empowerment in the workplace.

Remember, the mindset of the bigger boss is not on all fours with the core philosophy of the Labour Movement. That is just the way it is. And people must not be fooled into thinking that the YES Program and the handing out of over 3,000 parcels of lands to young people in St.Kitts in 2009 and early 2010 is a reflection of anything other than a strategy to win an election (and it was successful).

Some of those same young people, ages 19, 20, 21 and so on, who got land papers are unemployed. Some have come to me for help to make their down payments, and to find them employment. Some have left the YES Program and, in time, more will, because it cannot continue forever.

What will happen in 12-36 months with these young people and ‘their’ land?

Don’t get me wrong. I am happy that poor people have received land. Indeed, I believe that as a general principle, that is their right. And that is one of the critical avenues of empowerment along which Labour has operated for the past 78 years.

But real Labour would have ensured that people will have been getting land and homes steadily, not just at elections.

And real Labour would have ensured, even before the closure of the sugar industry, and definitely right after it, that poor people would have gotten access to more land, for residential and commercial purposes, and back then at a price just to cover infrastructural and administrative costs.

Indeed, I had proposed $2.00-3.00 per square foot or whatever the right price was back in 2005, only to be told that Government could not “give away” its land.

Give away?

Hadn’t these people and their ancestors already paid in blood, sweat and tears for this land? Did Bradshaw not stand in Buckleys Yard and claim the land for them? Would these poor people, and indeed, the entire country, not benefit if they had gotten their land then and spent some of their severance pay, and got a little help here and there, to build their homes and start their businesses? Isn’t that what real economic and social empowerment is all about?

And what happened for the election? The land was sold for $2.95 per square foot, which was even lower than the figure that had been proposed 4-5 years earlier.

All in the cause of winning an election.

However, now, 4-5 years later, the same poor people will be stuck with having to pay much higher prices for everything else in relation to the land.

Let me get back to the Ministry of Labour.

It must be said that the wholesale adoption of the unworkable and rejected St. Lucia Labour Code would be objectionable and unworkable. In fact, it is a waste of time and money (US$66,000.00), and it is retrogressive.

Now, what about the Attorney General? With respect to Mr. Patrice Nisbett, it is my view that Mr. Delano Bart (yes, you read right) a staunch loyalist of the bigger boss, will continue to be de facto Attorney General, assisted by Mr. Dennis Merchant and Mr. Nisbett.

This is not a difficult view to come to, given the fact that although under the Constitution, the AG is Government’s principal legal advisor, we have seen, since 1995, the constant presence of General Counsel, Mr. Lee Moore for Mr. Bart, Mr. Bart for Mr. Merchant, and now Mr. Merchant for Mr. Nisbett, with Mr. Bart still right there in the mix getting his piece of the action.

So this portfolio has always been very costly to the Government and it will be more so now, with ‘three Attorneys General’ having to be paid, one of whom, like Mr. Moore, is also Ambassador to the United Nations and a private legal practitioner.

And, of course, there are the other lawyers, local and imported, who will continue to collect millions of dollars yearly in legal fees for their services to Government, one of whom, literally days before the election, made sure to  get his cheque for the second half of his $525,000.00 plus fee,  ”just in case”, as he said.

The cost-effectiveness of this portfolio needs to be seriously examined, and it would be good to learn exactly how much money has been spent on lawyers by the AG’s Chambers between 1995 and the present and with what result.

Now to Ms. Marcella Liburd.

I was hoping that with her many years as a successful and loved teacher, she would have been given Education. And for what it is worth, I am sure that her late brother, Fitzroy Bryant, might have been rooting for her too.

I believe that she would have been able to establish a great working relationship with the teachers.

Instead, it has gone to Mr. Nigel Carty, a hard-line surrogate of the bigger boss, who is not known for his people skills.

And while we are on the unelecteds, Mr. Ricky Skerritt is now Tourism Minister and Minister for International Transportation.

Expect a lot of interesting stuff to come from these two ministries as time passes.

Dr. Asim Martin, seen by the bigger boss as a useful cog in the St.Kitts & Nevis-Venezuela-Cuba-Libya machine, has retained Communications and Works, and Energy and now, not surprisingly, gets Housing.

I can only hope that his Ministry and the Government will now find a way to build and maintain  public roads at a far lower cost, and that, after dismissing  my proposal, made nearly ten years ago after a visit to Ireland where I had met with some providers of wind energy, to consider a move in that direction, that they will now be serious about it.

The wind available to the planet can provide as much as 1,700 trillion watts (or 1,700 terawatts) of energy. If 90% (or 1,530 terawatts) of it  exists only far out in the oceans and at the tops of unreachable mountain ranges, that still leaves 170 terawatts available for mankind’s use.

And do you know what the earth’s present capacity is? It is less than 13 terawatts, and the projections are that this figure will climb by the year 2030 to 16 terawatts. So there are lots of it to spare. And it is clean.

Not to mention solar energy which is also available in abundant supply.

Geothermal energy  is perhaps the third best source( after wind and solar) but the cost of producing it can be daunting and costly, so I don’t know if the Nevis project will be exactly what the doctor ordered.

And why dig up your country when the wind and the sun are there for us, and can provide us with what we need more efficiently, safely and sustainably?

Our economy should be easier to ‘green’ than the bigger ones. I hope that Dr. Martin will try to make this a key part of his legacy, as Energy Minister.

The fact is that we cannot stay with fossil fuels. They are inefficient, costly, destructive and they will run out sooner or later, probably sooner.

Now to the special advisers.

Mr. Cedric Liburd, an insurance man with extensive ministerial experience in Agriculture, Fisheries, Housing, Telecommunications and Communications & Works, has been made a special adviser in Tourism, of all things; and Dr. Norgen Wilson, a young physician, is now a special adviser in National Security.

Yes, there is nothing wrong with providing these gentlemen with jobs, but, for Christ’s sake, do so in their respective areas of expertise.

But what would be the potential consequences on the way the bigger boss leads (and the way the others follow) if the challenges of Mr. Cedric Liburd and Dr. Norgen Wilson against Mr. Eugene Hamilton and Mr. Shawn Richards respectively are successful, and/or if Mr. Lindsey Grant successfully challenges  Mr. Glenn Phillip?

Meanwhile, and as I end, I look on the other side of the floor of Parliament, and ask what are we to infer if Ms. Cindy Demming is named as the senator opposite?

Yes, PAM might see the need to put a woman in Parliament.

But would it look right if two persons from the same constituency represent PAM in Parliament? Would the people from the other constituencies allow that?

Or is it possible (and I am merely and sincerely speculating here) that a decision to name Ms. Demming as the senator might be based on some apprehension that the challenge against Mr. Richards stands a good chance of success, and if so, he would not be able to run again for five years, which means that in the by-election called for Sandy Point, Ms. Demming would step right into the picture, and battle Dr. Wilson for the seat?

Interesting.