Politics in St. Kitts and Nevis has become - for many - a nerve-racking nuisance turned nightmare. The clarion call to uphold country above self, albeit well intended, often seems conditional; a mere farce. I love my country; I love my land of beauty so long as the party I love is behind the wheel, driving the engine of leadership, no matter how rocky the road. Have we somehow become "Conditional Lovers of Country”; merely loving our country when it is our party running things?
Flashback, elections January 2010; the stakes were high. For our leader Denzil Douglas, victory would put to rest all claims that he couldn't secure a four-term victory. Much to the dismay of his most vocal critics, he would continue to hold the seat of power as leader of the party and Prime Minister of the twin-island independent Federation, thereby earning the respect of his political counterparts in the region. Victory would be sweet. For the opposition and its leader Lindsay Grant, campaigning on a 3 C's platform meant drawing public attention to the high incidence of Crime, Corruption and the Cost of living. This acclaimed campaign was to be the welcome opportunity for a seemingly reinvented opposition to snatch the reins of power and reclaim government, thereby bringing about change.
It's no secret what the outcome of the January 25th, 2010 election process was. Labour retained power, PAM was left in the wilderness, albeit with three parliamentary seats. However, when the waste and wanton spending synonymous with the 2010 election is examined and the futile efforts of the opposition to keep up with Denzil Douglas and his band of "election Jones'" are revisited, one can't help but nod in disdain at the June 2nd, 2011 press release from the Office of the Prime Minister, that speaks to our Federation's economic and financial woes: "The Government of St. Kitts and Nevis announced today that it is to seek the cooperation of its creditors in the restructuring of its public debt stock, which is approximately US$1 billion. This exercise will address the severe payment challenges associated with servicing this debt and will seek to place the country’s high debt burden firmly on a sustainable footing along with a series of economic measures being introduced by the authorities."
It seems we waded through an election season thinking all was well only to learn that we really would be catching “hell”. Shortly thereafter, along came VAT. Shortly thereafter, among many other things, petty crimes spiked; shortly thereafter, pleas for economic relief increased; all a consequence of a slew of ill-advised decisions made by folk who should have known better. Why were we spending like a bunch of drunken soldiers, flying in this artiste and that artiste when truth be told, we have been scraping "d bottom of d barrel all along; brokes like a church mouse".
We continue to hear that the global recession has impacted us so severely we have to tighten our financial belts, but was there any thought about our financial health when we managed to fund plane loads of Kittitians and Nevisians for our 2010 federal elections? Did we really think long and hard as to how the excessive costs for these day trips may have economic repercussions months and years later? The fiscal recklessness that today has us pigeonholed is certainly a case of feeling it on the backside; the chickens are now coming home to roost. Then again, if the July 11 elections across the waters in Nevis is anything like the extravagance of the 2010 elections held on St. Kitts, we can only wonder if we are really serious about “shaving a sizeable clump” off the national debt. We wait; bated breaths and all.
Many of us dislike the discussion about how we got here; financially drained as a nation, but isn't part of establishing a way out of this indebtedness devising methodologies and best practices that will help us avoid making the same fiscal mistakes we made in the first place? After all, it's the very basic principle banks and other lending institutions adhere to when we seek out loans. They demand a history of our financial health as their guide to determine our financial worth. Lending agencies rate us based on our borrowing or credit worthiness and will stop at nothing to deny us access to their funds if we don't measure up financially. We are the authors and banks get to read our biographies: Jane or John Doe: Where We Were! Where We Are Today! Where Will We Be Tomorrow?
The IMF has had us under the microscope, observing, gauging and finally coming down on us with authority, demanding we readjust our financial practices in order to achieve a more promising economic outlook. Of course, at the helm of this mission should be our economic and financial experts who should have a vested interest in radically reshaping our economic health. The economists and gurus who best understand the science of the economy will likely tell us that debt recovery doesn't equate to over taxing every segment of a country’s population. The need to impose various levels of taxation is what government will likely entertain. In all fairness, while ordinary citizens are cautioned to scale back our spending, government must, at a minimum, "seem to be" doing likewise. It’s a case of reciprocity.
To end on the note on which this commentary started is to remind us that the politics we practice because of our allegiances has been part and parcel of our economic plight. We must be firm and say no when "no" is the right thing to say as opposed to the politically expedient thing to do. Political allegiance has its place, but it ought not take precedence over a nation's economic welfare.
