As I wish us all a happy New Year, I do so with more than a little trepidation.
You see, there might be a cannibal on the loose, eating up the heart and soul of this nation, callously and insensitively destroying people and their lives as he wends his way to our, and his own, destruction………….if we let him.
Thus far our culture, value systems, our lands, our patrimony, our sovereignty, and our financial, fiscal, economic and social stability have been cannibalized. And there’s very little left.
Meanwhile, the latest victim is none other than the Governor-General of St. Kitts & Nevis, Sir Cuthbert Sebastian (“the GG”) who, on 10th January 2012, was told to go on a year’s leave.
Sending off a 90-year old man on a year’s leave is tantamount to dismissal.
The GG is in good shape medically as far as I’m aware, and his mind is sharp.
Yes, he’s way beyond the standard retirement age, but I’m pretty sure that his age is not a criterion. If it was, a number of over 55-year-old dead beats would also be sent home.
Imagine how hurt and humiliated the GG must feel.
No prior warning. Not even a discreet, respectful chat over lunch to discuss the matter and the future of the Governorship, or to discuss matters generally that are upcoming on the GG’s timetable of duties and events, so that a dignified and well timed approach could be made to replacing him.
Not even sharing with him the idea of a well thought out and sensitive parting package, including, for example, naming a ward at the J.N. F Hospital; or a clinic, or even a road, after him, a nice reception, a church service, a radio call in program, etc.
Nothing!
That’s cannibalism.
To make matters worse, Dr. Sebastian is the son of J. Matthew Sebastian, who was one of the founders of the Workers’ League.
Also, the GG was close to Robert Bradshaw; he offered himself as a candidate in the 1984 general elections which Labour had no chance of winning; he has been a stalwart and major contributor to the Party; and as GG, he has put up with a lot of disrespect meted out to him by you know who.
Dr. Sebastian wanted to stay until June, by which time all of the activities surrounding the Queen’s Jubilee would’ve been completed. And he was looking forward to meeting a representative of the Queen who is visiting our Federation next month.
But none of that. He’s been gutted and eaten alive, milked for all he has, and now he has to go.
And I’m pretty sure that if Fitzroy Bryant, Lee Moore, St. John Payne, Fidel O’Flaherty, Desmond ‘Scratch’ Ward and other Labour stalwarts who’ve passed could speak from their graves, they would tell you similar stories of cannibalism.
Every single one of those named men shared their stories with me, as I’m sure, they did with some of you.
It’s all about the Cannibal.
And people who need him as well as people whom he needs all suffer the same fate eventually. In the process, very often a supporter is cannibalized because of the aspirations of another supporter, so the Cannibal carries on an ongoing balancing act among his essential supporters and cabal members, the essential objective of which is to maintain his hold on power. So as people come and go, cannibalized and left as carnage on the dump heap, he remains in the driver’s seat.
Weed out the old, and bring in the new. Then start the process all over again, always keeping just enough people happy and shouting for him, then replacing them going forward, to try to keep the energy fresh and the Cannibal’s appetite for red meat sated, as electoral gymnastics and gimmicks deliver final ‘victory’.
There are many other living victims of this cannibalism. Dr. Sebastian is just the latest, and before him came Mr. Sam Condor and Dr. Timothy Harris. And more will come.
That is, until the ‘referee’ pulls out the red card.
All of this comes straight out of the playbooks of cannibals of the past such as King Herod, Louis XIV, Stalin, Hitler, Mobutu and Duvalier, to name just a few.
The intention is to replace Dr. Sebastian with a person who will be more pliable in the face of the next wave of cannibalism that is to hit this nation. And to make that person, and other persons of ‘value’, happy.
I know of at least three other persons who have been baited with the prospect of being named Governor-General.
One of them was told: “You’re next after Dr. Sebastian. He’s an old man and he can’t last much longer.”
That was over ten years ago. And every time, over the years, the poor chap would ask a question, he’d be told things like: “Boy, CB (that’s Dr. Sebastian) too greedy. But now it’s time for Dr. Sebastian to go.
There’s a lot of talk about Pastor Leroy Benjamin getting the job, but that won’t go down well, quite apart from the fact that it might run afoul of some of our laws.
In addition, Mr. Edmund Lawrence mightn’t be happy being understudy to Pastor Benjamin. And, in case you didn’t know, the last man the Cannibal wants to make unhappy right now is Mr. Edmund Lawrence.
At the same time, Mr. Lawrence won’t want to leave his job at the National Bank Group of Companies, so being full-time GG might not be his first choice.
But there’s a way of pleasing him: Mrs. Hulda Lawrence, the wife of Mr. Edmund Lawrence, can be appointed as the next GG. That way, we would have a female GG for the first time, and she’d be the wife of Mr. Lawrence, which means that he would continue to run the Bank day-today and still share in the status of the office of GG.
Then someone else could be appointed to act in the absence of the GG.
That way, Mr. Lawrence would be happy, as would be others, while Dr. Sebastian would be left to reflect and regret, downgraded to carnage on the side of the road.
It doesn’t matter to the Cannibal that to have a retired GG and a serving GG means that two full GG salaries have to be paid, which is a terrible waste of money, given the fact that the current GG can still function, and especially at a time like this.
After all, wasting public money has never been a matter of great concern for the Cannibal. At least not when compared to his quest to be the leader of this nation for as long as he chooses.
As far as he’s concerned, Dr. Sebastian, like others gone before him, is now ‘dead meat’. And it’s on to the next meal.
