By G.A.Dwyer Astaphan
“Speak out in acts!
The time for words has passed,
And deeds alone suffice”…Anonymous
On Tuesday night, October 12th, 2010, several parts of St. Kitts were without electricity.
When I asked about it, I was told that the Government owed a substantial amount of money for the rented generators near to the airport, and that the owners decided to shut down the generators.
Now, if that was true, let me say that I am not at all comfortable with a company which provides such a vital service, all the more so to such a large number of consumers, acting in that manner, even if there had been prior discussion on the matter, even requests for payment.
Further, the company is dealing with the Government of a sovereign nation and there are sensitivities involved, so the path of tact and damage control needs to be carefully followed.
However, it may be that the owners of the Company felt that they had ‘licence’ to do what they did, which, shamefully, is not unprecedented. Because we know that some foreign investors in the Caribbean have been known to treat our leaders like errand boys.
Indeed, you might be shocked to learn how the same leaders who beat their chests and tell you how big and bad they are, and how nobody can mess with them, are so pliable when they face these rich boys from offshore.
The same ones who have big appetites to shout down, verbally shoot down and victimize local people are the ones whose tails lap and whose tongues hang out most readily when they come into contact with these foreign big-money men.
I leave you to reach your own conclusions on this.
As I write this article, I still don’t know definitively what caused the generators to be shut down. What I do know is that at a press conference on the following day the Prime Minister was asked to give an explanation, and he said that he was awaiting a report from Mr. Oaklyn Peets, the Permanent Secretary in the Ministry of Works.
But from the night before the Prime Minister must have known why the generators had been shut down. He simply didn’t want to tell the media what he knew, so he bowled them a ‘googly’, and he got through with it.
Lest we forget, this is a man who wants us to believe that he’s keeping us informed and keeping democracy and good governance alive with his monthly press conferences, his weekly radio program ‘Ask the PM’, and so on.
But we don’t need to be rocket scientists to realize that at these events he speaks a lot, yet he says very little; as little as possible. His intent is to control the flow of information to suit his narrow needs, to run the clock and to manipulate the proceedings.
How can it be any different with a man who takes credit for everything and takes blame for nothing? Not even one of the ‘Ten Man in One’ that he claims to be is willing to take the blame, leaving the other nine to take all of the credit!
I wonder if the people of this country, Labour, PAM, UNEP, CCM and NRP alike, are really aware of the monstrous problem which they’re facing here.
I respectfully call on the media to wake up to the game that’s being played on them, and to realize that their obligation to the people and to democracy must outweigh their fear of Denzil Douglas or their reluctance to question him incisively and relentlessly with tough questions and even tougher follow-up questions, always acting on the basis of professionalism, elegance and respect for his office.
It’s time for action by the media, because democracy is impossible without a strong, alert, professional media.
During the same press conference, he spoke about the hydrofoils issue.
He said that his Government had inherited from the Kennedy Simmonds Government a debt to Italy, for which principal and interest had reached, by the figures which he presented, about US$50 million in the year 2007.
He further said that in June, 2007 the Government had hired “skillful” persons to negotiate a settlement with the Italian Government; that in October, 2007 an agreement had been reached for St. Kitts & Nevis to pay only US$4 million in full settlement; and that by January, 2008 all US$4 million had been paid off, followed by a letter from the Italians dated February 26th, 2008, declaring the debt extinguished.
I was in Government at the time and I can’t recall this matter being discussed in Cabinet, or my being otherwise informed about it.
Now, this hydrofoils issue was very hot in the 1980’s and early 1990’s. And it would seem to me that the Prime Minister squandered a wonderful chance in 2007-2008 to score big political points against PAM by fully informing the public of the issue.
But he said nothing! It makes you wonder why he kept it on the down low back then. Even from Cabinet colleagues. There must have been a reason.
And it was only because of some recent pressure that he opened his mouth on the issue. Yet, when he did open his mouth, there was more in what he did not say than in what he did say.
For example, he didn’t give a reason for not having informed the public nearly three years ago, as he should have. Nor did he say who the “skillful” negotiators were, or how much they were paid, or what the total expenses of the negotiation were, or how the money was paid, or from which account(s) it was paid, or to whom it was paid.
Why did the media not press him with these questions on Wednesday?
It really is time for action by the media. And the more he tries to cover up, mislead and manipulate them, or tells them how “stupid” their questions are, the more determined they should be in putting the hard questions to him and in forcing respect, accountability and transparency out of him.
But it’s also time for action by the people of this country. Action to show that they’ll no longer allow him to treat Government as his own property, or to further run it into the ground, as happened in the case of Medics Pharmacy and Quality Foods.
I was tempted to mention Llewellyn’s Haven in the same category, but that property has been doing rather well, as it was rebuilt duty-free under legislation passed to facilitate improvements of hotels, condominiums, apartments, etc. to 4-star quality (that’s about Marriott level) for the 2007 Cricket World Cup and beyond, so that our tourism product might be pegged it at the higher end of the market.
Of course, if my friend Kim is to be believed (it’s he who told me this, well after the fact) the property hadn’t been intended to be marketed for short-term accommodation in the first place; and the deal had been struck early o’clock to rent it to the Taiwanese Government (at US$10,000.00 a month) as the ambassador’s residence.
A number of other property (mostly apartment) owners also got concessions, but few, if any, of them were upgraded to 4-star status as had been intended by the Act. Llewellyn’s Haven certainly wasn’t. However, depending on how you look at it, the other property owners provided good cover; and when they saw the opportunity they jumped on it. I can’t blame them.
But the truth is that the Act was made a mockery of.
Now all of these submissions for duty-free concessions would have had to go to Cabinet. Did the Cabinet Chairman recluse himself for the Llewellyn Haven submission, or for the Wigley Avenue property submission, or for any other that might have been tendered on behalf of himself or anyone close to him?
It really is time for action, to demonstrate that Denzil Douglas does not have a mandate to do wrong things or to misgovern them. There is too much suffering taking place, and it’s going to get worse over the next six months. Meanwhile, the name of the country is slipping.
Just two hours before I began this article, I was in a conversation with an international business person who has good connections in both the US and UK Governments, indeed, rather high up in the latter.
He told me of some things that have taken place over the past two years, saying that he had kept silent but he didn’t know if he could do that any longer.
And the things that he told me were, he said, only the tip of the iceberg.
The people need to send a clear message that they will hold Dr. Douglas, as leader, fully accountable for: all of the mismanagement; the poor state of the infrastructure; the high debt; the failure of our economy and our stay-over tourism sector to recover thus far; the fact that we’re still so far from food security and safety; the crushing tax burden that they will now have to bear; the massive job losses; the no-bid and the sweetheart, exclusive contracts; the duty-free giveaways; the land deals; the destruction of nature in the Southeast Peninsula and elsewhere; the manipulation; the deception; the cover-ups; and the corruption..
They need to show that they will not tolerate a situation in which they ‘re losing their jobs and becoming less able to support themselves and their families, while he, who got his job from them and is now causing them to lose theirs, is allowed to keep his.
They need to show that they are done with a doctor who can’t care for them, while he seems to be taking good care of himself and his cronies, and that they need to change their doctor.
They need to send the message loudly and clearly that it is time for Denzil Douglas and his little cabal, who have hijacked the Labour Party and have thrown the country into near bankruptcy and increasing disaffection, to move on.
And there is no need to wait for the next election for this to happen. Indeed, waiting will only bring more pain and suffering because at this stage of the game, the cabal may at its most vulturous.
It’s time for the people, in an organized, unified, non-partisan, peaceful, lawful, but relentless way, to protest, to march, to have rallies, to close down their businesses for a day, and to let the world know that they’ve had enough of this man’s leadership.
“…The time for words has passed, and deeds alone suffice”.
