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Still, a nation waits!
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| By: T. C. Phipps-Benjamin |
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By T. C. Phipps-Benjamin
After months as a nation waiting, elections have come and elections have gone. Days later, we are still waiting.
In some circles, post election feelings have been intensely mixed. While commendations for Dr. Denzil Douglas and the Labour party victory pour in, the opinions from supporters of all the political parties have flourished. Sore Losers! Cheaters! Simmer Down! Legal Recourse!
Like carnival, the election reverie and merry making is over. Unlike carnival though, there is now this unspeakable vacuum that fills the nation. The nation that waited for relief from its political noose, now seems further entrapped, not only by the woes of high crime, high debt, a vulnerable tourism industry, a challenged health care system, or questionable land and investment deals, among other things, but by a discernible division among its people; the core of our nation. For many, a gaping wound of sorts remains.
As a nation waiting, the expectation of the electorate leaned heavily on emerging from an election with a decisive path mapped out, ready for the task of moving St. Kitts and Nevis to another level for the next five years. Why then this cloud of uneasiness over our country? Why the bickering when in fact a Labour party victory of 6 seats to PAM's 2 seats translates to a government that will inevitably be formed by the previously seated Labour government? Why are we still a nation waiting when the votes have already been tallied and brought to the electorate by our supervisor of elections?
Amidst the throngs of celebrations, stories abound about irregularities on both sides of the political divide; irregularities that a supposed reformed electoral system should have checked long before polling day. In St. Kitts, both political parties claim to have identified individuals who voted in constituencies in which they have never lived. In Nevis, one Guyanese woman tells the tale of the alleged pressure she faced from a political interest there to prove which party she voted for or else face deportation. A cell phone accompanied her in the voting booth while she cast her vote; a crime pursuant to the federation's electoral laws.
Still, our nation waits; while the issue of overseas nationals coming home on government and opposition sponsored charters to exercise their franchise has been hotly debated. This subject ultimately invokes a blame game type scenario. "PAM did it years ago and won. Today, without the financial resources to match Labour’s ability to do the same thing, the PAM is crying "foul". Further, many feel that overseas nationals ought not be allowed to choose a government if they don't reside in the federation all year round. While the argument prolongs, the practice persists. What’s right? What’s wrong? Will the concerns ever be checked? Still, we wait!
The shouting match hasn't quelled despite a clarion call by the lone appointed cabinet member - as at February 5, 2010 - the Prime Minister, to join hands, unify as a nation, and restore the federation to normalcy. It seems we are a nation still waiting. Will we be left to wait for another five years for sweeping reform to an electoral system for which thousands of dollars has already been spent? Hasn’t electoral reform already come and gone?
Even God has gotten our attention. “God doesn’t like ugly,” some declare; “God is not sleeping,” others suggest; God is on our side; God this; God that. We are a classic lot, relying on God only for political expediency, fashioning him in our own image to suit our political agenda. We balk at the opportunity to make peace before an election comes, then make a blanket request to a nation to settle down and move our country forward “with God”. It seems near comical. Theatrics at its best!
Numerous measuring sticks decide how people make their choice of a government. For some, elections are about people involved in a process to choose a government they feel can best run the affairs of a country. Some deem elections a chance to draw two lines on a ballot for "something" in return. For others, elections are about the political party that can import the biggest bands and the most notable celebrities. Some vote their conscience; others vote based on tradition, but most of us come out of an election hopeful for one thing; that the five years of leadership under the government chosen by some of the people, serves the interests of ALL the people.
Paul Wellstone, a Minnesota born United States senator once said, “Politics is not about big money or power games; it’s about the improvement of people’s lives.” If Paul Wellstone was right, maybe one day our nation will no longer wait for a slate of candidates who would ascend to power and prove their ability to work with and on behalf of the electorate to improve our lives, barring all ills and temptations that high office may present. Until then, no matter which side of the political fence we find ourselves, our independent nation still waits.
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