Sam Condor, the Deputy Prime Minister of St .Kitts & Nevis, created history on Sunday, 4th September 2011.
On that evening he was scheduled to give a live address on Government-owned ZIZ TV and Radio.
Sam spoke with ZIZ Manager, Viere Galloway, who graciously and professionally slotted him in for 9:00 p.m., and the announcements started on ZIZ, informing the public of Sam’s broadcast.
However, as the news reached Prime Minister Denzil Douglas, he called Information Minister Nigel Carty and gave him certain instructions.
Next thing, Viere called Sam and told him that there was now a problem, as he had been given directives from Carty and ZBC Chairman, Peter Jenkins.
Carty was willing to allow Sam to go ahead with the live broadcast on the condition that if he said anything untoward he’d be shut down. But Viere said that he couldn’t just shut down a live broadcast by the Deputy Prime Minister of the Federation.
And Jenkins was willing to allow Sam to record the address, to have it vetted, if necessary, and to broadcast it subsequently.
Sam rightly rejected both options.
That humiliating and disrespectful act, perpetrated by and on behalf of Denzil, made Sam (as far as I know) the first Government Minister in this country to be prevented by his own Government from giving an address on ZIZ.
After the death of Robert Bradshaw in 1978, there was some tussling between Premier Paul Southwell and Lee Moore. The latter took to the airwaves of ZIZ, but unlike Denzil in the present case, Southwell did nothing to frustrate or stop Moore.
Boy ah boy, big man ah big man!
All bullies and tyrants are afraid of their own shadows and suspicious of everybody. And Denzil is no exception. So, probably afraid at what his Deputy might say, he had the obstruction placed on Sam, under the pretext that Sam would have to follow ‘the protocol’.
What protocol?
Carty has publicly admitted that he isn’t certain what ‘the protocol’ is. And he’s the Minister of Information. I wonder if any other Minister of Government, including Denzil, knows what ‘the protocol’ is.
Who knows? Does Peter Jenkins know? If so, why didn’t Nigel ask him when they spoke on Sunday, or why didn’t he tell Nigel?
And why didn’t Nigel ask Denzil what protocol he was speaking about when he told Nigel that Sam must abide by ‘the protocol’?
But really, what ‘protocol’? Did Denzil abide by ‘the protocol’ when he gave his August 31 live address on ZIZ taking the Police and Defence Forces from Sam?
Let’s just cut to the chase here. When Viere Galloway, as the General Manager of ZIZ, gave the okay, it means that all protocols (if any) would have been observed.
And it was only after Viere had given Sam the okay, and the promotions had started on the air, that this protocol story arose. Because Denzil wanted to frustrate and stop and embarrass Sam, and in Nigel and Peter he found willing helpers.
So, with Denzil having slammed the ZIZ door in his face, Sam went to WINN FM the next morning and gave his address, with VON Radio and Freedom Radio (and, I’m told, at least one overseas radio station) joining in on the live broadcast live.
No questions asked, no pre-recording, no vetting, no bull crap about ‘protocol’, nothing!
And as soon as Sam was done, my phone started ringing off the hook. Many people were disappointed. They said that he had not been strong enough, or that he should have resigned.
Firstly, I told them that Sam’s resignation would give Denzil his wish. So that’s the last thing Sam should do.
Then I asked them to listen to rebroadcasts of the address and to read it on the internet, so that they might be better able to digest what I thought were extremely strong and striking details in the address.
Let’s look at some of them.
He started out by referring to the “decision taken by Minister Carty and the Chairman of ZBC to deny me the privilege of broadcasting live” on ZIZ , because “the Deputy Prime Minister’s speech….would have to be pre-recorded and vetted prior to broadcast in this our democratic country”.
He went on to say: “This I deem to be part of the unfolding of a sick, dark and sinister plot of a depraved mind, and constitutes a most regrettable turn of events, which must be closely monitored”.
A sick, dark and sinister plot? A depraved mind? A regrettable turn of events? Which must be closely monitored?
Do you want language any bolder or clearer than that?
Indeed, a friend of mine told me that in all of my criticisms of Denzil or his leadership, she had never heard or read anything that strong from me.
Well, well, well.
When a Deputy Prime Minister utters remarks like that publicly, the thing is serious.
When he is Sam Condor, a man who is well known to be forbearing, long-suffering, and patient, it becomes very, very serious. It means that the Rubicon has been crossed.
But there’s more.
Sam stated that his Permanent Secretary had “constantly made policy decisions without advising or consulting with me as Minister”, and that for that and other reasons he had asked for a different PS.
Another instant of a Denzil acolyte having more power than an elected Minister, and having more power than the Minister in his own Ministry, worse yet the Deputy Prime Minister himself!
But despite his protests, Sam didn’t get his wish. Indeed, some of Denzil’s ‘NIPL’ (No Integrity in Public Life) Gang members were saying that Sam was out of order calling on Denzil to replace the PS, and that Sam would go before the PS did.
How right they were, and that’s why Sam could say in his address that he was being “sacrificed”.
And guess what. I heard that when Denzil met with Sam’s Constituency team on Tuesday, 6th September, he had the audacity to tell them that he didn’t know that Sam and the PS hadn’t been getting along! Can you believe it? And I also heard he told them that he didn’t know why the playing field in Boyds hadn’t been completed yet.
It’s nothing short of amazing and incredible the things this man says, and with a straight face! And he thinks that people, worse so, Sam’s people, will still believe him!
Does he think that Sam’s team is made up of sheep and goats, devoid of intelligence, sensibility and memory, and that he can tell them anything and they’ll believe him? After all of these years of disrespecting Sam to his face, does he ‘make up’ for it by now disrespecting Sam’s people to their faces?
Well, well, well!
Back to Sam’s address.
He made the point that institutional and official support and hard resources were needed in National Security, not a change of Minister and the retention of the PS.
And he questioned:
(a) the need for Denzil’s decision to take away the Police and Defence Forces and leave Sam with “Homeland Security” to cover Prisons, Fire & Rescue and NEMA;
(b) the way Denzil had gone about it: and
(c) Denzil’s motive.
In addition, he expressed his disagreement with Denzil.
It’s most unusual for a sitting Minister to publicly question and disagree with a decision of a Prime Minister, and all the more so to question a Prime Minister’s motive for making that decision.
And we all know that Sam isn’t a careless, disrespectful or malicious man. Nor is he consumed by vaulting ambition to be Prime Minister, or to depose Denzil, or anything like that.
So when he publicly questions and disagrees with these things, it’s because he’s deeply hurt and troubled by Denzil’s conduct, and because he’s taking a stand on the matter, and doing so not because of being personally hurt, but because of his commitment to God, righteousness and country.
And he decided that this is the time for him to take his stand publicly. This is the last straw!
From where I sit, it seems that it’s going to be difficult, if not impossible, for him to have any trust or confidence in, or respect for, Denzil in the future.
Or for Denzil to feel relaxed with him around.
Indeed, how can they work together with any credibility or sustainability going forward?
Already, Sam has said (it’s in his address) that he’s “not privy to the official information on the newly-restyled Ministry, and as such will not be able to speak to it until I have received it and have had further discussions on it”.
Such language clearly shows uncertainty as to whether he will accept the new portfolio assigned to him. And even if he does, it can never again be business as usual between him and Denzil anyway.
Who, for example, will be his PS?
Something has got to give, and somebody will have to go. And the odds are that it’s Denzil who will have to go, because this debacle, and other issues that will inevitably arise out of it, will further weaken Denzil, as the country and world watch with interest.
This situation symbolizes the conflict between ’New Labour’, which is not Labour at all, call it ‘Fake Labour’, and Real Labour, Denzil epitomizing the former and Sam the latter. A conflict which had to be played out sooner or later!
I’ve said it before, and now more and more people are agreeing: Denzil never was Labour. Most of the people close to him are former PAM activists/opportunists, his personal friends and relatives, who worked with him in his effort to take over the country.
In the mid-1980’s, Kennedy Simmonds was in the ascendancy, and Denzil was in a hurry. He couldn’t remove Kennedy, so he cast his eyes on Labour. All he wanted really was a donkey to ride on. Lee Moore had lost two elections, and a third loss could be fatal to him. So Denzil and his crew would come into Labour, nudge Charlie Mills out of the Constituency 6, do as little as possible to help Lee Moore in his life and death struggle against Consie Mitcham, and take over the Labour Party after Lee’s defeat.
Along the way, they would pick up support from Labour people who had a grievance with Lee Moore, going back to Lee’s conflicts with Southwell, and even before, and they would work to galvanize general support in the Party for Denzil.
That was the game plan, and it worked perfectly.
But here we are today, witnessing the conflict between Fake Labour and Real Labour. And Real Labour must and will prevail.
Fake Labour has been disrespecting, abusing, defiling and violating Real Labour for too long. And Real Labour has now taken a stand publicly to say: Game Over! And what we’re witnessing here are the final phases of that conflict.
It will not strengthen PAM. It will strengthen Labour. A different leader, a fresh team, and a fresh approach by Real Labour will inspire the country, give hope to the young, administer with balance and justice, and be transparent and efficient.
A Denzil led ‘Fake Labour cannot do that. The people will tolerate no more shenanigans. And choices are as easy as they’re clear.
Don’t bother with the foolishness you hear, and the ‘educated nonsense’ you read, coming from people who never risked a moment of their lives or their money to do a thing for Labour or for the poor people of this land, and who solemnly declare that they’re standing up to save ‘their’ Labour Party from people like me!
Well, well, well!
And as Denzil’s acolytes and apologists begin to realize that he’s fading, you’ll see how fast some of them begin to edge towards Sam; and I’m sure that they’ll all be welcomed in with a loving embrace.
What Denzil needs to be looking for now is a ‘soft landing’. And I’m sure that Real Labour would be prepared to grant him that.
Well, well, well.
